INTRODUCTION TO HOTEL
Quality of life (QoL) is an abstract concept, increasingly
important in socio-economic research, but there is no clear
definition: QoL is influenced by many components like health
status, culture, religion, residence, income, age, job
satisfaction. Transport and mobility preconditions play an
important role there as well, as they are central elements of
the integration in society, and often taken in consideration in
all kinds of implementations in the areas of town planning and
infrastructure.
The assessment of quality of life differs not only from
disciplines to disciplines, but also within the disciplines.
Some scientists put the satisfaction of individual needs in the
centre of their quality of life reflection. Others concentrate
on objective living conditions and the subjective well being.
Some research dealing with quality of life indicated that
subjective well being is strongly connected to the degree to
which a person has different choices and opportunities and is
also able to make use of them. However QoL is also closely
linked to sustainability - the effective use of natural, human
and technological resources to meet today’s community need
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their needs.
The subjective well-being is in the centre of the
psychological quality-of-life approach. A strong sense of
meaningful life, positive attitudes towards life, optimism,
autonomy and experienced control of social environment support a
high level of subjective well-being on the individual level. In
addition a good social network (having many acquaintances, being
appreciated, etc.) increases the level of subjective well-being.
Experts in this field constantly underestimate the importance to
consider especially subjective aspects of QoL, that vary for
different groups in connection with transport and mobility
preconditions.
The project takes a starting point in a heuristic approach
that focuses on different disciplines' practice in connection
with the assessment and consideration of QoL and underlying
mobility and transport preconditions. The focus has to be to
establish a conceptual, methodological and information basis for
professionals as well as for politicians and the general public
dealing with the issues of traffic, mobility, planning the city
and land use.
The following general objectives were defined by the consortium for the project HOTEL:
- Improvement of the understanding of the assessment of
different citizens' life quality by politicians, other decision
makers, planners, technicians and other experts.
- Development of a “toolbox” for the assessment of life
quality in connection with city planning, transport and
mobility:
- Harmonisation of data and installation of a databank
where results of life quality assessment at different occasions
are stored
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