An Integrated Evaluation Method of Accessibility, Quality of Life, and Social Interaction

Abstract

Since accessibility is an essential factor in land-use and transport planning, several methods have been developed to evaluate it. Nevertheless, it has seldom been an essential part of performance measures for policy evaluation from the viewpoint of individuals' quality of life (QoL). The objective of this study is to develop an integrated evaluation method of accessibility, QoL, and social interaction which contributes to the evaluation of land-use and transport policies for livable and sustainable urban development. In this paper, based on quantification of the weights of multielements of QoL, we develop a QoL-based accessibility measure and a QoL performance measure to address appropriate policies of land-use transport coordination and integration by disentangling the mismatch between real urban structures and people's demand for QoL. Furthermore, we explore embryonic ideas for the development of a generalised framework of QoL evaluation, incorporating social interactions and institutional design which link the QoL concept with quality of space and quality of procedure.