Page 28 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

The multidimensional nature of the quality of life incorporates (among others) basic needs: water,
food, shelter, health, jobs (economy), safety and security, education, culture, environment, social
equity, technology and innovation. Another way to look at this dimension is the concept of “well‐
being” – physical, material, social and emotional.
Despite the complexity of this dimension, the overarching element shared by the different natures
of the quality of life is that the QoL for citizens living in an urban environment must be constantly
improving in a steady pace as this is the basis for a prosperous city.
21 22 23 24
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Some studies have focused on this aspect , among them the Global City Indicators Facility .
Twenty "themes" are organized into two categories: (1) those which measure city services and (2)
quality of life factors. City performance is measured by 115 indicators across these themes,
collectively used to "tell a story." Approximately 35% of the indicators provide basic statistics and
background information for comparative studies, approximately 25% of these are "core" standards,
and all cities participating are expected to report on them. The remaining 40% are considered
"supporting" indicators where cities in developing economies are encouraged, but not mandated to
report the information, since there are differences in resources and capabilities compared to
developed economies.

2.4 Summary

In summary, three different dimensions have been identified for a city along with key attributes.
These dimensions are: (1) environment and sustainability, (2) city level services and (3) quality of
life. Each of these dimensions has a number of important attributes and in some cases there is some
overlap in what these attributes represent; it is recognized that the "lens" through they are viewed
o
can vary and therefore a 360 view is important to consider.
The following reclassification into four areas (pillars), listed below, for a city is observed –
representing the three dimensions and attributes. It should be noted that technology and
infrastructure are discussed separately since they tend to have a broader role in a city landscape.
Details of these pillars are provided in Table 3.
(1) Economy – The city must be able to thrive – jobs, growth, finance

(2) Governance – The city must be robust in its ability for administrating policies and pulling
together the different elements

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(3) Environment – The city must be sustainable in its functioning for future generations
(4) Society – The city is for its inhabitants (the citizens)

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21 http://www.mercer.com/press‐releases/quality‐of‐living‐report‐2012

22 http://www.mercer.com/surveys/quality‐of‐living‐report#features
23 Economist (2005). The Economist Intelligence Unit's quality‐of‐life index. Economist Online, December
2004. http://www.economist.com/media.pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf
24 https://www.ntt‐review.jp/archive/ntttechnical.php?contents=ntr200703043.pdf
25 Global city indicators web site http://www.cityindicators.org/themes.aspx
26 The term 'environment' in this particular description incorporates sustainability.

18 ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications