Smart Cities and Quality of Life: the Analysis of Perceptions Data

Abstract

One of the unavoidable effects of social and economic development is the intensified migration from rural to urban areas and consequent growth of urban population, imposing severe challenges to urban development. Growing economic and environmental problems are related to the management of urban infrastructure and resources: transportation, housing, health-care, sanitation, energy, clean water, education. The smart city concept has appeared as a solution for coping with the challenges of urban population growth and cities’ transformation into complex, but economically efficient and socially sustainable environments. The concept includes various aspects of urban development that can be analysed as determinants of urban regions’ competitiveness in attracting business, educated labour force and improving the quality of life. The essence of the concept is in creating policies that target sustainable development, economic growth and quality of life of the citizens. One of the ways of evaluating the quality of life in modern cities is by assessing citizens’ perceptions on various aspects of urban life – quality of services provided in the cities, employment prospects, housing conditions, the level of social integration and safety and the effectiveness of local government administration. The aim of this study is to evaluate and compare cities in different European regions based on perceived satisfaction with the quality of urban life. Using 26 different indicators across five categories, the significance of differences in smart performance and quality of life between the cities of various European regions is tested. Based on Urban Audit Perception Survey database, ANOVA and post-hoc analysis indicates significant differences in the perceived quality of life between European regions.