In today’s community, members are influenced by a variety of domains that make up the total community in which they live. Organizations from a variety of cities are trying to monitor the community’s well-being for a variety of domains. In Baltimore, The Enterprise Foundation Initiative uses 40 outcome indicators as “vital signs” of community well-being. These indicators are drawn from a variety of domains such as housing and community development, family health, safety, sanitation, education, and even sense of community (Anonymous, 2005). These factors go far beyond the traditional use of basic economic indicators often touted by community officials when they talk about community quality of life (QOL). Disciplines and businesses alike that have not traditionally examined these more subjective measures in their decisions are now beginning to recognize the importance of such community assessment in decisions regarding development. For example, Poorman (2005) examines a community domain, traffic and transportation, which has grown in importance over recent years. In that piece he calls for a planning strategy built taking into account public expectations that include things beyond simple economic concerns. He notes that planners need to consider such things as community structure, public health, and a variety of QOL domains. Difficulties arise, however, when there is not a theoretically sound framework that can guide public policy decisions regarding the integration, application, and monitoring of these domains.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Andrews, F.M. and Withey, S.B. (1976). Social Indicators of Well-Being: America’s Perception of Life Quality. New York: Plenum Press.
Anonymous (2005). Baltimore-rebuilding neighborhoods locally. Journal of Housing and Community Development, 62(3)(May):26–27. ABI/INFORM Global database (Document ID: 855586201).
Bruin, M.J. and Cook, C.C. (1997). Understanding constraints and residential satisfaction among low-income single-parent families. Environment and Behavior, 29(4):532–553.
Campbell, A., Converse, P.E., and Rodgers, W.L. (1976). The Quality of American Life: Perspectives, Evaluations, and Satisfactions. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Dahmann, D.C. (1981). Subjective indicators of neighborhood quality. In Johnston, D.F. (ed.), Measurement of Subjective Phenomena. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, pp.—97–118.
Dahmann, D.C. (1983). Subjective assessment of neighborhood quality by size of place. Urban Studies, (20):31–45.
Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3):542–575.
Fishbein, M. and Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Galster, G. (1987). Homeowners and Neighborhood Reinvestment. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Galster, G. and Hesser, G. (1981). Residential satisfaction: contextual and compositional correlates. Environment and Behavior, 16(November):737–758.
Kris, J.—(2005). Saving spaces. Planning: APA 2005 Planning Awards, 71(3)(March):14–15. ABI/INFORM Global database (Document ID: 809775001).
Lansing, J., Marans, R., and Zehner, R. (1970). Planned Residential Environments. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Survey Research, University of Michigan.
Lee, B. and Guest, A. (1983). Determinants of neighborhood satisfaction: a metropolitan-level analysis. Sociological Quarterly, 24(Spring):287–303.
Poorman, J.P. (2005). A holistic transportation planning framework for management and operations. Institute of Transportation Engineers. ITE Journal, 75(5):28–32. ABI/INFORM Global database (Document ID: 841849721).
Sirgy, M.J. and Cornwell, T. (2001). Further validation of the Sirgy et—al’.s measure of community quality of life. Social Indicators Research, 56:125–143.
Sirgy, M.J., Rahtz, D., Cicic, M., and Underwood, R. (2000). A method for assessing residents’ satisfaction with community-based services: a quality-of-life perspective. Social Indicators Research, 49:279–316.
Vrbka, S.J. and Combs, E.R. (1993). Predictors of neighborhood and community satisfactions in rural communities. Housing and Society, 20(1):41–49.
Yockey, K.M. (1976). Residential alterations and additions and housing-neighborhood satisfaction. M.S. thesis. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sirgy, M.J., Rahtz, D. (2006). A Measure and Method to Assess Subjective Community Quality of Life. In: Sirgy, M.J., Rahtz, D., Swain, D. (eds) Community Quality-of-Life Indicators. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4625-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4625-4_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-4624-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4625-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)