People like living in cities and expect them to improve as places in which to live and work. Those are some of the main conclusions of a Eurobarometer survey on the Quality of Life in European Cities. More than three-quarters of interviewees were satisfied with the quality of life in their cities, and a majority were positive about their city’s future. Though citizens were on the whole satisfied with the quality of services such as education, health and culture, they had concerns over issues including availability of jobs, housing costs, and pollution.
“This survey shows that people are positive about city life on the whole, but it also highlights their concerns. This gives us pointers for designing future policies,” said Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy.
In 75 European cities, interviewees answered 23 questions in 500 telephone interviews. Respondents said to what extent they agreed or disagreed with statements such as: “I am satisfied with the quality of life in my city”.
In Piatra Neamt (RO), Tallinn (EE), Vilnius (LT), Cluj-Napoca (RO), Burgas (BG), more than 80% people agreed with the statement: “In the next five years, it will be more pleasant to live in [name of respondent’s city]”.
For public transport, the top five cities were: Helsinki, Vienna, Rennes, Hamburg and Munich. There was also a reasonable level of satisfaction throughout the EU regarding cultural facilities, sporting facilities, green space, healthcare services and schools.
Turning to concerns, air pollution was thought to be a big problem in 62 cities. And in only 11 cities did a majority agree that “It is easy to find a good housing at a reasonable price”.
The best cities for job opportunities were Prague, Copenhagen, and Dublin, where more than 70% of respondents agreed it was easy to find a job. But in three out of four cities, most of those questioned disagreed with the statement. In three cities, Palermo, Napoli and Frankfurt an der Oder, a large majority thought finding a job was difficult.
An overview of the results in 70 cities in the 27 Member States of the European Union and five cities in Croatia and Turkey, as well as detailed results of the survey, are available at: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/urban2/audit_en.htm
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