Abstract
Using survey data collected from households living in the Brisbane-South East Queensland region, a rapidly growing metropolis in Australia, path analysis is used to test links between urban residents’ assessment of various urban attributes and their level of satisfaction in three urban domains-housing, neighbourhood or local area, and the wider metropolitan region – moderated by selected demographic characteristics of respondents. The analysis also shows the relative contribution of those urban domains to overall life satisfaction. Neighbourhood satisfaction is shown to be much less important in predicting overall life satisfaction than is satisfaction with housing and the region. However, neighbourhood satisfaction impacts indirectly on overall life satisfaction, mediated by regional satisfaction and housing satisfaction. In predicting regional satisfaction, the cost of living and government service provision are shown to be most important, with pollution important for younger people and parents, while improvements to transport systems are more important for the baby boomer generation. Neighbourhood satisfaction is best predicted by neighbourhood interaction and perceived crime, with neighbourhood interaction being more important for older people, while perceived crime is more important for younger and single people. Access to facilities is a poor predictor of neighbourhood satisfaction, except for parents. Satisfaction with housing is shown to be best predicted by housing age, temperature and home ownership. However, larger homes are important for parents, while young people prefer smaller homes. The importance of various urban attributes does not vary between genders. While material concerns like the cost of living and the provision of services are shown to be primary factors underlying overall satisfaction with urban living, the importance of environmental issues and demand for smaller homes might be expected to increase over time.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
I. Audirac A. H Shermyen M. T Smith (1990) ArticleTitle’Ideal urban form and visions of the good life - Florida growth management dilemma’ Journal of the American Planning Association 56 IssueID4 470–482
M. Baldassare G. Wilson (1995) ArticleTitle’More trouble in paradise - urbanization and the decline in suburban quality-of-life ratings’ Urban Affairs Review 30 IssueID5 690–708
R. Boyer D. Savageau (1981) Places Rated Almanac Rand McNally Chicago
J. Brotchie P. Newton P. Hall P. Nukamp (1985) The Future of Urban Form Coom, Helm and Nichols London
M.J Bruin C.C Cook (1997) ArticleTitle’Understanding constraints and residential satisfaction among low-income single-parent families’ Environment and Behavior 29 IssueID4 532–553
A. Campbell P. Converse W. Rodgers (1976) The Quality of American Life: Perceptions, Evaluations and Satisfactions Russell Sage Foundation New York
A. Cicerchia (1999) ArticleTitle’Measures of optimal centrality: indicators of city effect and urban overloading’ Social Indicators Research 46 IssueID3 273–299 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1006808506878
E. Diener (1984) ArticleTitle’Subjective well-being’ Psychological Bulletin, 95 IssueID3 542–575
E. Glaeser J. Kolko A. Saiz (2000) ’Consumer city’, Working Paper 7790 National Bureau of Economic Research Cambridge, MA, USA
L. Grayson K. Young (1994) Quality of Life in Cities British Library London
M. Greenberg D. Schneider D.W Choi (1994) ArticleTitle’Neighborhood quality’ Geographical Review 84 IssueID1 1–15
J. Gyourko J. Tracy (1991) ArticleTitle’The structure of local public-finance and the quality-of-life’ Journal of Political Economy 99 IssueID4 774–806 Occurrence Handle10.1086/261778
C. Hsieh (2003) ArticleTitle’Counting importance: the case of life satisfaction and relative domain importance’ Social Indicators Research ( 61 227–240 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1021354132664
L.W Jeffres J. Dobos (1995) ArticleTitle’Separating peoples satisfaction with life and public perceptions of the quality-of-life in the environment’ Social Indicators Research 34 IssueID2 181–211 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF01079196
K. Joreskog D. Sorbom (1996) LISREL8: User’s Reference Guide Scientific Software International Chicago
Kahneman, D.: 1999, ‘Objective happiness’, in D. Kahneman, E. Diener and N. Schawrz (eds.), Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology (Russell Sage Foundation, New York).
D. Keeble (1990) ArticleTitle’Small firms, new firms, and uneven regional development in the United Kingdom’ Area 22 234–245
E. Lance C. A.G Mallard A.C Michalos (1995) ArticleTitle’Tests of the causal directions of global life facet satisfaction relationships’ Social Indicators Research 34 IssueID1 69–92 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF01078968
D. Ley (1996) The New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City Oxford University Press Oxford
L. Liaw K. W.H Frey J.P Lin (2002) ArticleTitle’Location of adult children as an attraction for black and white elderly primary migrants in the United States’ Environment and Planning A 34 IssueID2 191–216 Occurrence Handle10.1068/a34119
M. Lu (1999) ArticleTitle’Determinants of residential satisfaction: ordered logit vs. regression models’ Growth and Change 30 264–287 Occurrence Handle10.1111/0017-4815.00113
Marans, R. W.: 2000, ‘Measuring the quality of community life: A program for longitudinal and comparative international research’, The Second International Conference on Quality of Life in Cities’, Singapore.
Marans, R. W.: 2002, ‘Detroit area study: presentations and selected findings’, http://www.tcaup.umich.edu/workfolio/DAS2001/findings/WebDistributionby Cty.html.
Marans, R. W. and W. Rodgers: 1975, ‘Toward an understanding of community satisfaction’, in A. Hawley and V. Rock (eds.), Metropolitan America in Contemporary Perspective (Halsted Press, New York).
C. Michalos A. (1985) ArticleTitle’Multiple discrepancies theory (MDT)’ Social Indicators Research 16 IssueID4 347–413 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00333288
C. Michalos A. B.D Zumbo (1999) ArticleTitle’Public services and the quality of life’ Social Indicators Research 48 125–156 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1006893225196
A. Parkes A. Kearns R. Atkinson (2002) ArticleTitle’What makes people dissatisfied with their neighbourhoods?’ Urban Studies 39 IssueID13 2413–2438 Occurrence Handle10.1080/0042098022000027031
M. Pierce R. (1985) ArticleTitle’Rating America’s metropolitan areas’ American Demographics 7 20–25
R. Rogerson (1999) ArticleTitle’Quality of life and city competitiveness’ Urban Studies 36 IssueID5-6 319–328 Occurrence Handle10.1080/0042098993303
Schwarz, N. and F. Strack: 1999, ‘Reports of subjective well-being: judgmental processes and their methodological implications’, in D. Kahneman, E. Diener and N. Schawrz (eds.), Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology (Russell Sage Foundation, New York).
N. Schwarz F. Strack D. Kommer D. Wagner (1989) ArticleTitle’Soccer, rooms, and the quality of your life: Mood effects on judgments of satisfaction with life in general and with specific domains’ European Journal of Social Psychology 17 69–79
J. Sirgy M. T. Cornwell (2001) ArticleTitle’Further validation of the Sirgy et al.’s measure of community quality of life’ Social Indicators Research 56 125–143 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1012254826324
J. Sirgy M. T. Cornwell (2002) ArticleTitle’How neighborhood features affect quality of life’ Social Indicators Research 59 79–114 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1016021108513
J. Sirgy M. D. Rahtz M. Cicic R. Underwood (2000) ArticleTitle’A method for assessing residents’ satisfaction with community-based services: A quality-of-life perspective’ Social Indicators Research 49 279–316 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1006990718673
B. Taylor R. (1995) ArticleTitle’The impact of crime on communities’ Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 539 28–45
E. TurkseverA. N. G. Atalik (2001) ArticleTitle’Possibilities and limitations for the measurement of the quality of life in urban areas’ Social Indicators Research 53 163–197 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1026512732318
P. B. Warr (1987) Work, Unemployment, and Mental Health Oxford University Press Oxford
Warr, P. B.: 1999, ‘Well-being and the workplace’, in D. Kahneman, E. Diener and N. Schawrz (eds.), Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology (Russell Sage Foundation, New York).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mccrea, R., Stimson, R. & Western, J. Testing a Moderated Model of Satisfaction with Urban Living using Data for Brisbane-South East Queensland, Australia. Soc Indic Res 72, 121–152 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-004-2211-x
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-004-2211-x