The Quality of Life in Latin American Cities

Bernard van Praag

ISBN 10: 0821378376 / ISBN 13: 9780821378373

Edité par World Bank Publications Mai 2010, 2010

A propos de cet article

Neuware - In Latin America, the only region in the developing world with a majority population in urban areas, criteria to prioritize policy actions for improving the quality of life in the region's rapidly growing cities is greatly needed. Although housing infrastructure has improved, a variety of problems affect many cities including insecurity, severe socio-economic segregation, a lack of public spaces and poor transport infrastructure. Looking at eight cities in six Latin American countries, the authors use a methodology that combines the hedonic pricing method and the life-satisfaction approach to identify and value housing characteristics and neighborhood amenities and services. The valuations, in turn, are used to produce quality of life indices to compare neighborhoods and assess the potential impact of improved public amenities and services on housing prices and quality of life for different socioeconomic groups. Policy implications range from criteria to prioritize public expenditures and identify expenditures to be paid through property taxes, to ways to target expenditures for tackling the segregation problems endemic to Latin American cities.

N° de réf. du vendeur 9780821378373

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The Quality of Life in Latin American Cities
• Éditeur: World Bank Publications Mai 2010
• Date de parution: 2010
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0821378376
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780821378373
• Reliure: Taschenbuch
• État de l'article: Neu
• Dimensions: 229 L x 152 H x 16 P (en millimètres) 229 millimètres de largeur par 152 millimètres de hauteur par 16 millimètres de profondeur
• Poids: 397 grammes

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

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: Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Lima, Medellín, Montevideo, and San José 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.