Dimensions of Urban Environmental Quality

Abstract

For purposes of planning and for impact studies, definition of environmental quality and instruments for its measurement are badly needed. Efforts in this area have largely been subjective, have depended upon expert judgment, and have been concerned with specific, isolated aspects of environmental quality rather than being directed to description of the domain in terms of its major dimensions. This study used the responses of 2,541 residents of the San Francisco Bay Area to items developed largely from open-ended questions asked of persons in that and another metropolitan area, and subjected them to the objective method of factor analysis to provide an empirical description of environmental quality in reference to residential use. The study produced 20 clean and meaningful factors which provide, from the viewpoint of residents, a more finely differentiated definition of environmental quality than has previously been available. The data collection instrument, with minor modifications, can serve as an instrument to measure residential environmental quality and will be useful to planners and in evaluative studies of a variety of environmental interventions. The methodology can be used to further refine the definition and measurement of environmental quality for residential purposes and should prove equally useful in regard to environmental quality in relation to other land uses.