Quality of life in town: views and actions of inhabitants of certain towns in Serbia

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the analysis of quality of life in towns of Serbia based on subjective assessment of inhabitants of certain towns. Quality of life refers to the set of living conditions assessed in terms of satisfying human needs, and in an urban environment it could be observed in dimensions of housing, employment, education, culture, recreation, health, ecology, etc. The analysis has used data from survey research conducted by Institute for Sociological Research of University of Belgrade - Faculty of Philosophy in 2013-2015. Kragujevac, Sabac, Uzice, Novi Pazar, Sombor, Zrenjanin, Leskovac and Zajecar have been chosen as case studies, and the sample of each town is representative of the urban population aged from 18 to 65 years. The aim of the paper is to present results of the mentioned survey research in order to gain insight into certain aspects of subjective experience of quality of life in studied towns. The paper analyses important problems of local community or town that residents perceive as worrisome, then the most important improvement in quality of life in town during the last five years, according to the respondents, as well as the activities organised by residents themselves to improve the quality of life in their town. There are similarities between the mentioned towns, like unfavourable economic situation or low level of civic activism, but also some differences which point to the locally specific problems and solutions.