Livability and Urbanization

Urban areas experienced rapid changes in during the last century. With swiftly growing urban populations, the growth of urban areas has accelerated in the last couple of decades. Dealing with “rapid” urbanization is an important concern in urban and spatial studies. The literature shows a wide variety of studies on the economic, social and cultural aspects of urban growth. Most recently, the concept of livability - quality of life - has been debated. This study attempts to measure of livability that is appropriate to the neighborhood scale. In this study, livability is measured with defined indicators: accessibility of public places (schools, health care centers, parks and gardens), availability of open spaces (green areas) and environmental quality (cleanliness of the city, rainwater management and safety). Old and new neighborhoods of Denizli-Turkey were selected as the study site. The research explores differences between old and new neighborhoods in developing cities, in case of livability based on selected indicators.