The Role of Diseconomies of Transportation and Public Safety Problems in the Measurement of Urban Quality of Life

Abstract

Quality of Life has become an issue of urban research due to a greater awareness of its contribution when identifying areas for intervention and when monitoring urban planning policies. This case study from Costa Rica refers to the role of diseconomies of transportation and public safety problems in the measurement of urban quality of life. Theoretically, urban diseconomies, or negative externalities, are the result of rises in average total costs over time as production increases and of the use of certain factors without increasing scales. The cost of urban diseconomies related to transportation and to public safety problems affects both external conditions contributing to quality of life (e.g.: level of income, access to services and resources and productivity) and people's subjective perspective of quality of life in various domains (e.g.: stress, time use, leisure time and so on). These deficiencies have led to the reversal of gains from concentrated economic activities and positive externalities achieved by agglomerated dwellings thus becoming urban diseconomies. An analysis is provided of city living and its evergrowing problems warranting new styles of planning, regulations, and urban management, along with physical intervention based on comprehensive, innovative technical solutions. The data comes from various sources, and a statistical model was used to obtain estimates and projected data. The results suggest that if measures are not taken to reverse current urban growth and the expansion of the Greater Metropolitan Area, people's opportunities and fundamental rights of access to capacity building, potentially allowing them to have more meaningful lifestyles, will be restricted.

The Needs for Quality Urban Rail Transit Life in Asian Metropolitan Cities

“…Many studies have attempted to define QoL and to measure it from an analytical perspective. Some authors have suggested that QoL studies are most suited to the study of urban life, due to the contradictions characterizing urban environments (Pichardo-Muñiz 2011 ). The urban railway transit space is a common public space shared by different users, and thus is a suitable place to conduct QoL research.…”

“…When low level needs are fulfilled, people begin to focus on their high level needs, and these higher level needs will alter users’ behavior for both objective and subjective reasons. The objective perspective focuses on the external conditions contributing to QoL, whereas the subjective perspective is based on people’s internal judgment as it relates to QoL (Pichardo-Muñiz 2011 ). For instance, people focus on their high level needs in a more developed URT space.…”