Assessment of urban quality of life under climate change – A framework for Europe

Climate change shapes urban living conditions, affecting environment, health, and resident well-being. Standards of the International Organization for Standardisation play an important role in smart development and climate risk resilience. However, they do not address the complexity of local contexts and subjective residents' perceptions necessary to fully understand their quality of life. This research proposes a framework for European cities to assess quality of life in cities under climate change (QLAF). QLAF combines hard infrastructure with soft social data and field observations. QLAF is based on analyses of two case study urban areas of Almere (Netherlands) and Nowa Huta (Poland) including local climate change policies, resident surveys and expert interviews exploring transport infrastructure and urban mobility, green-blue infrastructure, access to natural environment, microclimate and thermal comfort, climate security, water management, natural environment conditions; social participation, and climate awareness. Formulation of QLAF demonstrated that, regardless of local conditions, ecosystem elements are the most important factor. Given limited community participation in redesigning cities, improving climate resilience of urban areas requires integrating measurable indicators with residents' perspectives and engaging them in formulating adaptation solutions. QLAF encompasses 23 quantitative and 18 qualitative indicators suitable for European cities located in Atlantic and Continental biogeographic regions.