Evaluating the Urban Quality Through a Hybrid Approach: Application in the Milan (Italy) City Area

Urban planning can support the optimal exploitation of the resources available in an urban system with specific reference to the accessibility of goods and services by an increase of the quality of the public space. In this perspective, knowing the economic effects generated by urban planning choices can be fundamental to guide decision-making processes. For this purpose, a research work which proposes a method for defining a synthetic index through the Multi-Attribute Value Theory to describe urban quality is presented. The synthetic index proposed in this study reflects the public open spaces, accessibility and provision of services qualities of the urban context. Besides, this study estimates these advantages through the hedonic prices method, analyzing the residential market. The combined methodology has been applied in detail to three districts located in the Municipality of Milan (Italy). The simultaneous reading of the indices used to spatialise the urban quality levels allows identifying the extrinsic characteristics of the three neighbourhoods analyzed. Considering the changes induced on house prices, the results of the hedonic models show that the economic impacts generated by low levels of urban quality are significant. Accordingly, the policies that aim to transform the existing urban fabric become fundamental for the creation of economic and social value.