The Veolia Observatory of Urban Lifestyles : Cities For Living - 2010

[1] The 2008 study "Life in the City" surveyed residents of 14 cities: Alexandria, Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Lyons, Mexico, New York, Paris, Beijing, Prague, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo.

The 30-question survey was administered between March 16 and April 15, 2010 to a representative sample of residents in each city (socioeconomic class, gender and age). Two-thirds of the respondents answered on-line while the remaining third were questioned face to face. More than 7,000 people were surveyed in the seven major cities.

This year's study also builds on the ideas of international experts involved in urban area development, including Rajenda Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, and Richard Florida, Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and a leading international figure in urban issues.

All the people questioned said they were very attached to their city, either because they were born there (half of them) or because they had lived there for a long time (a third had been living there for over 10 years and only 17% had lived there for less than 10 years).

However, this overall feeling of attachment varied widely from city to city: some people liked their city unconditionally (95% for Mumbai) and others liked it less (69% for São Paulo and 66% for Cairo).

They also enjoyed urban life in general; eight out of 10 were satisfied with their city, although over a third had not chosen to live there. Despite the difficulties encountered, they felt that the city is the ideal place to live, work and start a family, with 72% hoping that their children would grow up there.

Electricity, water and waste management services were considered "entitlements" by city residents, who found it normal to be satisfied with them (which was the case most of the time), but could suffer on a daily basis when they felt that there were deficiencies.

Electricity, which was considered a necessity, is the service with which people were the most satisfied. The respondents therefore expressed few expectations of this service, except for city residents who did not feel safe and who underlined the need for good lighting at night.

Generally, water management also was well rated, particularly in the major Western cities. Tap-water quality and wastewater collection were judged overall, with no real distinction made between them. For the vast majority (92%), improving water services was not a priority, given the quality of the services already being provided.

On the other hand, waste management services generated a wider range of responses. Although 68% were satisfied with the services, there was a big difference between Western cities and cities in developing countries: Paris, Chicago and London stood out with more than three-quarters of positive opinions, while only slightly over 50% of respondents said they were satisfied in Mumbai, Beijing and Sao Paulo, and just 42% in Cairo.

The respondents were very outspoken about their concerns and expectations.

In all the cities, the cost of housing was a major concern. In total, 62% of respondents (ranging from 70% in Paris to 50% in Cairo) thought the cost of housing high, and 50% said that having a larger home was a priority for improving their lives.

Taking all seven cities together, 39% of the respondents cited safety among the main problems their city should address; the most concerned were over the age of 50. Safety was especially an issue for the residents of Sao Paulo, Chicago and London: more than six out of 10 residents of these cities expressed concern.

Lastly, and not surprisingly, more than half the respondents felt they lived in a polluted city, especially those in Paris (64%) and Sao Paulo (83%). In Mumbai and Cairo, over half the residents cited pollution as among their city's main problems. Half of the residents of Beijing wanted air-quality improvement to be a priority for their municipal managers. Only London and Chicago residents were relatively unconcerned about this issue.

Almost half the city dwellers questioned said they spent more than one hour a day traveling, but the travel times were significantly longer for those using public transit (28% spent more than two hours a day) than for those using personal cars (15% spent more than two hours).

That is why 65% of the respondents continued to have a car even though, overall, the majority said they were in favor of a reduction in car usage in the city (58% on average, and 65% of public transit users). Traffic congestion was a concern for about 70% of city dwellers, and half of them wanted their municipality to reduce automobile traffic as quickly as possible. However, just 30% said they were willing to limit their car use in the city.

Despite this attachment to cars, what the respondents wanted most to improve their lives was better public transit (54%). Two-thirds said that the existing systems worked fairly well but they had high expectations of the authorities both when it came to "conventional" transit modes (metro and bus) and to more specific expectations, such as the Paris light rail system, which 57% of residents would like to see extended.

People see the environment more as a global than an urban issue. A third of city dwellers recognized that the environment is everyone's responsibility, but the majority believed that it was mainly the public authorities and private operators that had to be engaged. They also said they had confidence in these bodies' competence.

Seven of 10 respondents believed that the environmental problems had become so serious that they would have to change their way of life.

A total of 59% of them thought that improving the environment would enhance economic development, in which they themselves would be the principal players and beneficiaries. This would involve reducing waste and water consumption, and using public transit more than the car.

However, these issues were of secondary importance to city dwellers, who mainly wanted to see improvements in the quality of their daily lives: greater safety or seamless public transit.

• Proactive and Optimistic: 54% of city dwellers. They are satisfied with their city and their way of life. They are involved in sustainable development issues and are optimistic about the future. They are more likely to be from emerging nations, left-leaning and aged between 15 and 40.
• Realistic: 14% of city dwellers. They have incorporated environmental issues into their civic life, without, however, believing they will see radical changes in their city. They are mainly women in Western countries, aged between 29 and 34.
• Disappointed and Pessimistic: 32% of city dwellers. They criticize their city for not taking the environment sufficiently into account, because they suffer the consequences on a daily basis. They do not picture themselves living in their city in the future. They are more likely to be aged 50 and over, they have a car and live in Paris, London and Chicago.

Every day, cities find themselves with thousands of new residents attracted by urban life and should have a vision of their future expansion. In all, 74% of new residents were optimistic about how the quality of life in their city would evolve, although they were aware that there would have to be a change in strategy.

The question of whether expansion should be vertical or horizontal correlated with the lifestyles of the people surveyed in the seven cities. Those who worried more about the residents' quality of life and health opted for "horizontal" expansion, whereas those mainly concerned about mobility tended to opt for "vertical" expansion.