Kyttä, M. & M. Kahila, 2005, The perceived quality factors of the environment and their ecoeffient accessibility, in: Gallis, C.T., ‘Forests, trees, and human health and well-being’, Siokis, Thessaloniki
- Author : Kyttä, M. & M. Kahila
- Year : 2005
- Published in Book : Forests, trees, and human health and well-being
- Pages : 337-351
- Abstract in English : We don’t know enough about the ‘quality factors’ of the urban inhabitants, what they are, how reachable they are and how the densification policy affects to them. Urban environment can be seen as a functional system, consisting of a multitude of individual ‘quality networks’ where each inhabitant can create her/his own quality net work according to her/his preferences, abilities, personal projects, mobility possibilities and restrictions. In a pilot study the authors have developed a GIS-based query method to collect locally the meanings that inhabitants attach to their environment. In this study the authors operationalize the perceived individual quality factors through the concept of affordances. The quality network is defined by the actualization of affordances on the one hand, and by the availability of affordances on the other hand. These two dimensions determine the individual eco-social niche in which a person lives and that consists of a network of multiple places. The preliminary results show that the prototype of the web-based softGIS method was able to bring about interesting results concerning the perceived quality factors (affordances) of the living environment and especially the location of them.
- Comments/Notes : KEYWORDS: urban open space, environmental quality, quality factors, affordances