Indicators for urban quality evaluation at district scale and relationships with health and wellness perception

The paper is related with a research that was aimed to better define urban quality and sustainability
at a district scale (4000-10000 inhabitants), specifically referred to European towns and settlements.
An innovative set of indicators (72) has been developed, starting from and taking into consideration
also existing literature, both in terms of indicators and sets of indicators (OECD, UN, Agenda 21, and
existing European databases as CRISP), four “thematic” areas have been defined dealing with
architectural quality, accessibility, environment and services. Within each of these areas some macroindicators
and micro-indicators have been defined. The aim is to translate something that is usually
considered subjective into something “objective” and finally defined with a number (0-100). Microindicators
and macro-indicators are weighted thanks to a mathematical method based on symmetrical
matrixes, so that there is a correct balance between different areas. Indicators are both qualitative
and quantitative, so they are not just referred to urban planning procedures. The research has been
already successfully applied to some Italian districts in towns as Lodi, Genova and Milano. The set of
indicators was needed also to work within a multi disciplinary team that has already included
engineers, architects, planners as well as doctors and physicians. As a matter of fact the results in
terms of urban quality have been compared with medical results concerning health and wellness
perception (using SF-36 international recognized questionnaires) by users (inhabitants), finding (non
linear) relationships between urban quality and well being perception by inhabitants. The results of
this research can be used to: better define design strategies (by designers) accordingly to users
wellness, or evaluate ex-post the results of design activities (by municipalities or public authorities).