Conceptual Approaches to Environmental Quality and Livability in Smaller Cities

Abstract

Livable city means a city that can effectively meet the needs of its population regardless of age, gender, social situation or level of education. Many official rankings publish annually a list of the most suitable urban places for life, evaluated according to number of indicators including infrastructure and public transport, urban design and architecture, health and education system, safety and crime, climate, socio-economic and environmental problems, connections to nature, and others. Top 10 places ranked regularly are Melbourne, Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Adelaide, Sydney, Helsinki, Perth, Auckland . It is interesting to note that the geographic location and climate of these livable favorites is not ideal; the bad weather, snow, darkness and cold last for at least 6 months of the year. So which values prevail in the selection of people for the quality of life? The issue of livability or as well the quality of life in the context of urban design and environmental quality and sustainability is of much interest of interdisciplinar academic research, more frequent since 1960ties. Street negation by modernists and the functionalist ideals of hygienic and lighted settlements supported the creation of impersonal high-rise buildings coupled by roads without active public spaces. As a reflection on modenistic principles in architecture and urban design and continued growth and preference for automobiles the new theoretical and practical works were born, such as Jane Jacobs voice calling for the cities humanization of or Jan Gehl´s theoretical approach and practical design for many great cities, which can be characterized as urbanistic humanism and the return of the city to its real users. Urban design is all about the human dimensions. Not about cars, industry or business. The quality of life has to be on the first place, followed up by space and buildings – other way round it does not work. If people perceive positively the city for their life, everything else will come gradually (Gehl, 2014). The quality of urban life is primarily concerned with the qualitative aspects of the city's life as a whole. Simply it is expressed as "friendly relations" of its inhabitants and visitors to the city and to the degree of infrustructural and urban amenities (Bašová, 2014). Attempts are now being made to humanize cities, to increase their livability, to improve the public space for people and this way encouraging them to walk and cycle. Open public spaces are only attractive for users if there is a certain concentration of people. When an osmosis between open spaces and the city occurs – it is an osmosis of the human presence in the streets with the human presence in public spaces (Djukic et al.,2018). Factors such as the presence and quality of walkways, safety, isolation from disturbing traffic influences, distances, accessibility, creation of a mixed-function and attractive environment affect user preferences and ultimately affect health, environmental and economic benefits.