| The Quality of Life in Latin American Cities Contributor(s): Lora, Eduardo (Editor), Powell, Andrew (Editor), van Praag, Bernard M. S. (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0821378376 ISBN-13: 9780821378373 Publisher: World Bank Publications OUR PRICE: $29.70 Product Type: Paperback Published: June 2010 Annotation: Latin America needs to improve quality of life in its rapidly growing cities. The authors value housing characteristics and neighborhood services in 8 cities. The resulting quality of life indexes make it possible to assess the impact of public amenities and services on housing prices and quality of life for different socio-economic groups. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Sociology - Urban - Social Science | Developing & Emerging Countries |
| Dewey: 306.097 |
| LCCN: 2010002327 |
| Series: Latin American Development Forums |
| Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5.9" W x 8.9" (1.05 lbs) 292 pages |
| Themes: - Demographic Orientation - Urban - Cultural Region - Latin America |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: A growing number of cities around the world have established systems for monitoring the quality of urban life. Many of those systems combine objective information with subjective opinions and cover a wide variety of topics. This book assesses a method that takes advantage of both types of information and offers criteria to identify and rank the issues of potential importance for urban dwellers. This method--which combines the so-called 'hedonic price' and 'life satisfaction' approaches to value public goods--was tested in pilot studies in six Latin American cities: Bogot , Buenos Aires, Lima, Medell n, Montevideo, and San Jos of Costa Rica. It provides valuable insights to address key questions such as, - Which urban problems have the greatest impact on people's opinions of city management and the most widespread effects on their lives? - Do gaps between perception and reality vary from one area of the city to another, especially between high- and low-income neighborhoods? - Where can homebuilders most feasibly seek solutions to problems such as inadequate road infrastructure, a lack of recreational areas, or poor safety conditions? - Which problems should government authorities address first, in light of their impact on the well-being of various groups of individuals and given private actors' abilities to respond? - Which homeowners benefit the most from public infrastructure or services? - When can or should property taxes be used to finance the provision of certain services--or the solution of certain problems? 'The Quality of Life in Latin American Cities: Markets and Perception' proposes a monitoring system that is easy to operate and that entails reasonable costs but also has a solid conceptual basis. Long the ideal of many scholars and practitioners, such a system may soon become a reality and have the potential to make a significant contribution to the decision-making processes in any city concerned with the well-being of its residents. |
