Urban Livability: A Place of Environmental Compounds in a Mindset. In: Korneykova, M., et al. Smart and Sustainable Urban Ecosystems: Challenges and Solutionsстатья
Аннотация:Urban livability depends on a lot of compounds, including the environmental ones, most of them dependent on green infrastructure (GI) and its distribution. Two interviews of the public in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg (N = 352) and experts from Belgrade in the field of urban studies (N = 27) were conducted to assess the importance of 23 compounds of urban livability. Public respondents are more interested in social and economic issues (income rise, job creation, improvement of healthcare, education, housing quality, safety, etc.) than in environmental ones. The improvement of parks and public spaces (8th place), the design of new ones (12th) and pollution reduction (9th) are the most significant environmental compounds, while the conservation of secluded silent shelters (20th) and expansion of protected areas (18th) are the least demanded. The local environmental issues are not properly expressed in public answers. The most significant differences between respondents are related to the place of residence, not to demographic, education level or access to the GI. Saint-Petersburg citizens are more interested in the design of new parks and public spaces compared to Moscow citizens that are keener on pollution reduction and nature shelters for relaxation. Belgrade experts consider environmental compounds of livability as significantly more important. Local pressing issues of the urban environment are expressed in the opinion of experts from Belgrade (air pollution, public transportation, wastewater treatment and economic problems). Considerable gap between the professional community and public in terms of environmental compounds of livability is yet to be explored.