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Measuring Subjective Quality of Life: A Survey to Porto’s Residents

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Abstract

The evaluation of the urban quality of life has been an important aspect of the research concerning the contemporary city and an increasingly support to urban planning and management. As part of a project to monitor the quality of life in the city of Porto, a survey of the resident population was conducted in order to study the citizens’ perceptions of their local quality of life and its evolution in recent years. The opinions of individuals on their level of satisfaction with various fields of the urban quality of life are systematised, as well as their integrated assessment. This analysis is complemented by a multivariate analysis that allows the grouping of the interviewees in large homogenous groups and their social and economic characterisation. Based on the results achieved, we try to highlight the usefulness of the qualitative analysis of the quality of life to support the definition of urban policies.

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Notes

  1. For a more complete description of this monitoring system and presentation of the indicators and results see Santos and Martins (2007) and Martins and Santos (2003).

  2. Historic Centre, comprising the parishes of Miragaia, São Nicolau, Sé and Vitória; Traditional Centre, comprising the parishes of Bonfim, Cedofeita, Massarelos and Santo Ildefonso; West Side comprising the parishes of Aldoar, Foz do Douro, Lordelo do Ouro and Nevogilde and East Side comprising the parishes of Campanhã, Paranhos and Ramalde.

  3. The analyses have been carried out with the software SPAD (“Système Portable d’Analyse des Données”), copyright DECISIA, France.

  4. A first multiple correspondence analysis carried out put in evidence the high importance of categories Do Not Know /No answer in the definition of both the first and the second factors; under these circumstances, it has been decided to carry out a new analysis, this time without considering the missing answers (Do Not Know/No answer) with low frequencies, which induce a greater bias (frequency under 8%). All other "rare" categories are also eliminated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEMPRE, Faculty of Economics, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-464, Porto, Portugal

    Luis Delfim Santos

  2. Studies and Planning Department, Porto City Council, Porto, Portugal

    Isabel Martins

  3. LIAAD, Faculty of Economics, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Paula Brito

Authors
  1. Luis Delfim Santos
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  2. Isabel Martins
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  3. Paula Brito
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Correspondence to Luis Delfim Santos.

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Santos, L.D., Martins, I. & Brito, P. Measuring Subjective Quality of Life: A Survey to Porto’s Residents. Applied Research Quality Life 2, 51–64 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-007-9029-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-007-9029-z

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