{"title":"Reconceptualising urban liveability: a quantitative assessment of inhabitant needs in Colombo, Sri Lanka","authors":"Maheshi Tennakoon, Akila Rathnasinghe, Udayangani Kulatunga","doi":"10.1057/s41289-024-00242-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The proliferation of cities has brought numerous challenges, contributing to a deterioration of its inhabitants’ quality of life and liveability. To address these challenges, this paper advocates for a planning approach that prioritises inhabitants’ concerns. It introduces the concept of liveability as a philosophy to tackle urban challenges and proposes identifying priority factors for urban development and investment. This study is focused on Colombo, Sri Lanka, an economic capital in South Asia, investigating all of its nine local authorities through a questionnaire survey and document reviews. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) facilitated data collection and pairwise comparisons of liveability factors. This study identifies six liveability characteristics, 25 attributes, and 71 indicators for prioritisation. The study finds that a balanced socio-economic environment is the most important characteristic, and safety is the most prioritised attribute. In terms of implications, the participatory approach employed in this study enables government authorities to efficiently formulate policies that enhance urban services and liveability. The study pioneers a context-specific approach to measuring liveability in urban settings, particularly in the South Asian region, offering invaluable guidance to urban planners and decision-makers grappling with the challenges of urbanisation and striving to improve liveability in similar settings.</p>","PeriodicalId":46557,"journal":{"name":"Urban Design International","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Urban Design International","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41289-024-00242-7","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"ARCHITECTURE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The proliferation of cities has brought numerous challenges, contributing to a deterioration of its inhabitants’ quality of life and liveability. To address these challenges, this paper advocates for a planning approach that prioritises inhabitants’ concerns. It introduces the concept of liveability as a philosophy to tackle urban challenges and proposes identifying priority factors for urban development and investment. This study is focused on Colombo, Sri Lanka, an economic capital in South Asia, investigating all of its nine local authorities through a questionnaire survey and document reviews. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) facilitated data collection and pairwise comparisons of liveability factors. This study identifies six liveability characteristics, 25 attributes, and 71 indicators for prioritisation. The study finds that a balanced socio-economic environment is the most important characteristic, and safety is the most prioritised attribute. In terms of implications, the participatory approach employed in this study enables government authorities to efficiently formulate policies that enhance urban services and liveability. The study pioneers a context-specific approach to measuring liveability in urban settings, particularly in the South Asian region, offering invaluable guidance to urban planners and decision-makers grappling with the challenges of urbanisation and striving to improve liveability in similar settings.
期刊介绍:
URBAN DESIGN International is:
an essential forum for the exchange of information and debate concerning issues of urban design and management
a vital resource for urban designers, architects, planners, landscape architects and developers
an international peer-reviewed publication.
URBAN DESIGN International is the first truly international network for all of those involved in the multi-disciplinary tasks of urban design and management.
In providing a direct forum for the exchange of information and a vehicle for the debate which constantly redefines the scope of urban design, the journal places a primary emphasis on bringing together practice and research. It addresses current issues and aims to make a range of materials accessible to all: from in-depth papers and reviews of projects, to book reviews, comments on previous contributions and a diary of international events. Some issues are themed by topic or geographic region.
The international range of the journal is impressive as witnessed by contributions from all the major continents and an active and extensive editorial structure.
Amongst the issues the journal addresses are:
urban design theory and practice
urban development and management
urban ecology
heritage and local identity
diverse communities of interest