Selection of Indicators of Urban Sustainability and Quality of Life of City Inhabitants

The quality of European landscapes and the quality of life of city inhabitants are closely related to economic, social, and cultural aspects that are manifest in time and space. This connection, interacting with the local economy, responds to the recreational, emotional, and spiritual needs and the sense of identity of the community, as the Mercer survey and Eurobarometer have highlighted. If our cities are unsustainable, as often happens, the urban landscape could/should become the litmus paper that allows the state of places to be synthetically interpreted and supports the delineation of indications to solve the problems (Benson and Roe 2007). When following this road, it is necessary to consider the technical aspects of sustainability policies—such as energy savings, recycling, environmental management, etc.—and non-technical aspects such as social behaviours and spatial organization. All of these aspects together, in addition to the way in which they interact, contribute to determining the characteristics of a given urban landscape and the quality of life of city inhabitants. The continuous “feedback” between sustainability and quality of the urban landscape and their interaction with the quality of life of city inhabitants have been the subject of numerous studies and reflections in the contemporary scientific panorama. In this respect, the 2010 book by Claudia Dinep and Kristin Schwab Sustainable Site Design Criteria, Process, and Case Studies for Integrating Site and Region in Landscape Design highlights how “…urban sustainability is fundamentally the sustainability of the urban landscape as a whole”. In a 2004 essay, MacKendrick and Parkins maintained that the sustainability of the urban landscape could be defined as the capacity of a landscape system to generate and maintain conditions for a safe, harmonious, and adequate environment of life that respects ecosystems (MacKendrick and Parkins 2004

The Landscape as a “Complex Indicator” of Urban Sustainability and Quality of Life of City Inhabitants

As mentioned in Chap. 1, the debate about the sustainable city and the quality of life of city inhabitants is like a large arena where heterogeneous approaches and contributions from different sectors meet, without ever converging on a common vision. Consequently, it is difficult to identify effective models to assess urban policies, plans, and projects to address the challenge of sustainability. The sectoral cultural approach to themes of urban sustainability and improving the quality of life in cities has extended from scientific research to plans and projects for transformation. A comparison of different possible project alternatives and monitoring of the results of policies and plans over time is often lacking, as well as an open dialogue between researchers and political and social actors (Bertuglia et al. 2004)