The Capability Approach in Urban Quality of Life and Urban Policies: Towards a Conceptual Framework

Abstract

Improving urban quality of life is often stated as the main goal of urban policies, planning and management. However, there is no wide consensus on the theoretical and methodological framework that should be used to operatively define the concept of urban quality of life, so as to be useful for developing operational tools to measure it and for the evaluation of urban projects, plans and policies. We consider the capability approach an effective candidate for providing the kind of theoretical and methodological grounding necessary for the design of such tools. According to this theoretical perspective, individual wellbeing is not defined in terms of endowment of commodities, but rather in relation to a person’s capability ‘to function’. This means we must look at what a person actually is and does (functionings) and what they are effectively able to be and do (capabilities), given both their personal characteristics and their surrounding environment. We can therefore say that in the capability approach, the achievement of wellbeing is a process of interaction between the individual and their surrounding environment. Putting these ideas consistently to work in the design of tools for measuring urban quality of life means to evaluate urban quality of life on the basis of the actual possibilities each person has to ‘use’ the city in order to achieve functionings and capabilities, rather than just observing urban features

Assessing Urban Livability through Residential Preference—An International Survey

“…Livability is a frequently used term, to refer to the quality of urban environments in the light of the dwellers' needs and expectations. However, consensus is lacking on how to define livability and its main components, or how these parameters can be assessed in a transferable way [1][2][3][4]. Based on the extensive literature reviews of Van Kamp et al, Pacione, and Young and Hermanson [1,3,5], it is visible that most of the existing definitions share some basic elements regarding what the urban living environment (both natural and built elements) provides and how it is connected to the individuals.…”

Before Entering Adulthood: Developing an Index of Capabilities for Young Adults in Bogota

“…By using the CA for investigating how people achieve a better urban QoL, current evaluative frameworks of urban policy can be improved as the attention will move towards the effective capabilities people are able to achieve in urban contexts. As part of this discussion, Blečić et al (2013) have coined the term "countability approach" to refer to these kinds of evaluative approaches in opposition to the "capability approach", which emphasises the effective abilities people have to promote or achieve valued goals.…”

“…For urban planners and policymakers, the effects of urban context on people's well-being have generally been approached from a perspective of resources. From this standpoint, the key feature of flourishing within the city is based on the quantity of urban inputs and outputs provided, rather than what people are actually able to do and be, in and with the city (Blečić et al, 2013). Quality of life studies have operationalised a battery of objective and subjective indicators which have employed a rather utilitarian normative direction that has precluded the assessment of alternative informational spaces of human advantage, as well as glossing over substantial interpersonal variations on how people convert urban resources into achievements.…”

Smart Techniques in Urban Planning: An Insight to Ruled-Based Design

“…The fourth factor consists of the capacity to propose an inclusive design process able to clarify the specific qualities that have to be delivered. This could help to frame, during the design process, the level of urban qualities that have to be achieved in a project, plan or policy, so as to give the operational tool to measure and evaluate it [46].…”