G Nuvolati

Towards the development of quality of life indicators in the 'digital' city

Cities are central to the economic and social development of European society, not only because over 80% of European citizens live in urban areas, but also because cities are at the same time centres of production, innovation, employment, and culture, and loci of segregation, deprivation, and ethnic conflict. The emergence of a European-wide urban policy, has given new impetus to the need for comparable indicators of the quality of life to monitor development and policy implementation. This paper reviews the literature on quality of life indicators, and argues that traditional measures of the quality of life need to be supplemented with two new dimensions that reflect more recent postmodernist thinking about the composition of urban landscapes, and the contribution to the quality of life of the emerging information society. We argue that the challenges of building appropriate indicators reflecting these new dimensions are considerable, even in urban environments so rich in information systems and data sources, if they are to qualify as ‘digital cities’. There are difficulties in finding common workable definitions of the indicators themselves, as well as definitions of the relevant populations, including city residents, and users. By raising these issues and suggesting possible avenues for addressing these challenges we contribute to a much-needed debate on how to define such indicators, which is the prerequisite for their development and use.

Socioeconomic Development and Quality of Life in Italy

The paper concerns the analysis of the evolution of Quality of Life (QOL) in Italy considering the size of the cities and the geo-economic division of the country. In particular, starting from the model of the Three Italies elaborated by Bagnasco in the seventies, it shows the linkages existing between different types of socioeconomic development and living conditions in the Italian regions. Ranks based on social indicators and survey data are presented in order to quantify and compare QOL during the last 12 years in the ex-industrial and metropolitan regions of the North-West, in the multi-cephalic urban system of the North-East-Center as well as in the poor Meridione. New possible trends in the evolution of QOL are also presented.

Happiness, subjective and objective indicators

The understanding of the concept of happiness brings light to a multiple theoretical framework composed of different approaches that are not always rightly considered or well known. This chapter aims at resuming the differentiation in happiness studies and proposes the identification of subjective and objective indicators of happiness that maintain the multiple distinction existing in theory. The conclusion highlights the necessity for a coexistence of approaches to happiness in order to foster a more solid and complete knowledge on this particular subject.

Resident and Non-resident Populations: Types of Conflicts

Contemporary urban areas are characterized by the growing number of resident and non-resident people living, working, and consuming in cities. According to the analysis of Martinotti (1993), we have four types of metropolitan populations: inhabitants, commuters, city users (mainly tourists), and businessmen. These populations come and stay in the city in different moments during the day or in different seasons, for different reasons and purposes, generating different types of real or potential conflicts. In particular, it is possible to focus on six types of possible conflicts: from a spatial point of view, in terms of conflicts concerning occupation and mobility in the space; from a more general point of view, in terms of economic, cultural, fiscal, and political conflicts. Of course, non-resident populations constitute very important resources also for improving the living conditions of resident populations, and vice versa. However, scholars and planners should also recognize that contemporary cities have to tackle many problems related to the high concentration and flow of people in urban areas, where new worrisome phenomena of social polarization and political disenfranchisement are emerging that require innovative types of public policies.