{"product_id":"quality-of-life-in-cities-towards-unified-interregional-perspectives","title":"Quality of Life in Cities: Towards Unified Interregional Perspectives","description":"As urbanization accelerates globally, cities have become central engines of economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. Yet they continue to grapple with complex challenges, including inadequate housing, strained infrastructure, widening inequalities, environmental degradation, and governance gaps. Ensuring a high quality of life for all urban residents has therefore emerged as an urgent and shared global priority. The present interregional paper offers a comparative analysis of the factors shaping urban quality of life across regions. It identifies common challenges, highlights shared opportunities, and underscores persistent disparities. It explores nine interconnected domains at the heart of the Quality of Life Initiative and its index, namely housing, education, health and well-being, economy, environment, basic services and mobility, culture and recreation, social cohesion, and governance. These domains are complemented by a cross-cutting focus on technology and innovation. The index adopts a holistic people-centred approach, integrating objective conditions (such as access to services and mobility) with subjective dimensions (such as perceived safety and opportunity). It is organized into two layers: a global layer of universal indicators applicable to all cities, and a local layer co-created with cities to capture context-specific priorities and conditions. By providing a unified framework for understanding the key factors that influence quality of life in cities, the present paper serves both as a shared reference point and a practical tool for designing tailored evidence-based policy interventions. It informs strategies that promote inclusive and sustainable urban development across regions. Ultimately, the paper calls for a systemic shift in urban policy, which places quality of life at its core and fosters collective ownership of urban futures, while aligning with global, regional and national development agendas.","brand":"United Nations","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58932006912335,"sku":"9789211547573","price":34.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.suomalainen.com\/products\/quality-of-life-in-cities-towards-unified-interregional-perspectives","provider":"Suomalainen.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}