Table 3 Service characteristics (n = 7)
From: Essential service accessibility and contribution to quality of life: a systematic review
Study | Outcome measure | Definition / justification | Analysis | Service examined | Source of services | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Davern, 2017 | Subjective well-being | SWB is an alternative measure of well-being needed to understand the influence of policy decisions on individuals. | Linear regression, multi-level models, spatial autocorrelation, ICC | Community centres, culture & leisure (cinema / theatre, library, museum, art gallery), early years (childcare), education (state primary, state secondary), health and social services (aged care, community health centres, dentists, GP, maternal child health), sport and recreation (swimming pools, sports facility) | Literature review | Access to a mix of 15 social infrastructure services increased SWB on average by 2.3 points. |
Kourtit, 2024 | City love, urban well-being | City love is a multidimensional concept that captures the individual place-based attraction of residents to a locality. Feelings of satisfaction of urban residents reflect their ‘love for the city’. | Ordinal least squares regression model, beta regression, spatial autocorrelation | Sports infrastructure (open air, sports halls, swimming pools), stores (clothes and fashion, free time, hotels, restaurants, bars, culture, recreation), healthcare facilities and cultural, lifestyle, and social amenities | Federal Bureau for Statistics, the National Bank of Belgium, Flemish Bureau for Statistics, Municipality-City Monitor | A diverse range of shopping opportunities and the organization of cultural events seem to positively impact city satisfaction. |
Rhubart, 2023 | Meaningful use | Meaningful use was defined as engaging with others in conversation in a third place for more than 30Â min. | Frequencies (weighted and unweighted), binary logistical regression | Public retail establishments (coffee shops, restaurants, bars, liquor and tobacco stores, or salons and barbershops), social event or meeting places (bowling alleys, religious and spiritual organisations, civic organisation, libraries, recreation facilities, community centres, schools, or parks) | Previous research and typology developed by authors | The most common third places that are meaningfully used among rural working-age adults are religious organisations, parks/lakes, and dine-in restaurants. |
Takamine, 2024 | Subjective well-being and cognition | SWB is a comprehensive indicator of health status (including psychosocial aspects such as loneliness and isolation). | Logistic and multiple regression | Exercise facility, cultural facility, educational facility, meeting hall, medical and welfare facility, religious facility, leisure facility, café and restaurant, retail store, life service facility | N/A | The most commonly used places to relax, memories, show others, socialise, and visit with family were cafes and restaurants. Cultural facilities and retail stores were other places used to relax and visit with family. The number of clinics in the area was significantly correlated with SWB. |
Tiitu, 2024 | Comfort factor (liveability) | Comfort factors refer to the neighbourhood characteristics of a resident’s living environment. | Z-scores, and fourfold table visualizations were made using the mean values | Cultural services, exercise facilitates, grocery shops, health and social services, indoor meeting places, kindergartens, restaurants, school | Literature review and workshop | Residents rated cultural services and exercise facilities as high importance, whereas practitioners rated schools and kindergartens as high importance. Health and social services and grocery shops were rated high importance by both. |
Van den Berg, 2015 | Importance of interactions per location | The importance of older adults’ social interaction was analysed to understand their location choices and personal, residential, and mobility attributes. | Latent class multinomial logit model | Play facility, community centre, church, supermarket, shop/services, local shop, shopping centre, health facility, bar, restaurant sports facility, library, school | N/A | The results suggest that both personal and mobility characteristics play an important role in social activity patterns of older adults. |
Węziak-Białowolska, 2016 | Urban QoL, satisfaction | Satisfaction with life in a city was used as an indicator of urban quality of life. | Logistic regression | Health care services (doctors and hospitals), cultural facilities (concert halls, theatres, museums and libraries), sport facilities (sport fields and indoor sport halls), retail shops, public spaces (markets, squares and pedestrian areas) | Flash Eurobarometer 366: Quality of life in the European cities | Dissatisfaction with cultural facilities and availability of retail outlets contributed significantly to dissatisfaction with life in a city. |