Environmental correlates of residential satisfaction: An exploration of mismatched neighborhood characteristics in the Twin Cities

Abstract

Previous studies have overwhelmingly focused on the effects of objective and/or perceived neighborhood characteristics on residential satisfaction. Little attention has been paid to residential preferences and their realization. This study hypothesizes that residential satisfaction is different for individuals whose residence is located in a neighborhood with characteristics that match their preferences and those whose residence is located in a neighborhood with characteristics that do not match their preferences. Therefore, residential satisfaction depends upon whether perceived neighborhood characteristics match the resident's preferences for the characteristics. Using data from the Twin Cities, this study explores two related issues: the impact of mismatched neighborhood characteristics on residential satisfaction and the impact of perceived neighborhood characteristics on residential satisfaction. We find that using mismatched neighborhood characteristics or perceived neighborhood characteristics as explanatory variables produces somewhat different environmental correlates of residential satisfaction. Findings from this study suggest that improving parks and open space, neighborhood safety, and neighborhood appearance is important to enhance residential satisfaction of existing residents.

Economic disadvantages and migrants' subjective well‐being in China: The mediating effects of relative deprivation and neighbourhood deprivation

“…Third, the estimated coefficients of neighbourhood deprivation might have been underestimated due to the presence of confounders. The reason for this is that people living in deprived neighbourhoods tend to have less desire to achieve a successful life than those living in nondeprived neighbourhoods (Cao & Wang, ). Deprived neighbourhood residents are more likely than others to be satisfied with the present situation and therefore report a higher level of life satisfaction.…”

Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) in Southern Europe—An Iberian Case Study. The Eurocity Elvas-Badajoz

“…Other examples include the research conducted by Cao and Wang (2016) which explored the relationships between neighbor and twin cities [66], the work of Ballas (2013) [67] regarding life quality in urban territories, or even, in this research line, the survey studies/methods aiming to define measures and patterns put forward by Craglia et al [68], Mulligan et al [69,70], Lambiri et al [71], and [72]). The topic of CBC is also gaining momentum bearing in mind that borders have become places of intense activity due to increasing migration processes, motivated by several different factors, and also because border areas are historically places of intense development, benefitting from different but complementary catalysts for redevelopment as in the case of competition or cooperation.…”

An investigation of migrants’ residential satisfaction in Beijing

“…When the former is consistent with the latter, they have a high level of residential satisfaction. Cao and Wang (2016) further indicate the important role of residential preference and state that a match between perceived attributes and residents' preference results in residential satisfaction.…”