Quality of life in the city, quality of urban life or well-being in the city: Conceptualization and case study

Abstract

Abstract Quality of life research responds to the growth of urbanization in the world by increasing the focus on the quality of urban life; however, the dominant applied research tends to be without conceptualization of the quality of urban life. The aim of this paper is to answer the question whether the quality of urban life exists as an original, separate part of the concept of quality of life, or whether only the quality of life or the well-being of a certain city exists. The authors argue that the quality of urban life exists as an original category of quality of life and their beliefs are based on the fact that it can be measured separately. The quality of urban life is holistic, co-existing with the quality of life. The city from the point of view of quality of life research is a place, and the quality of urban life is the satisfaction with life in a city and the quality of place in it. This approach is applied to the quality of urban life and its measurement in the city of Liberec. The results are implications for policy-makers and urbanists.