The influence of subjective and objective characteristics of urban human settlements on residents’ life satisfaction in China

Abstract

Under the guidance of people-oriented development concepts, improving residents’ life satisfaction has gradually become the goal of urban governance. Based on Chinese household tracking survey data and national socio-economic statistics, this study used the entropy method, multi-layer linear regression model and geographically weighted regression model and discusses the spatial heterogeneity of the impact of objective environmental characteristics and subjective perceived characteristics of urban residential environments on residents’ life satisfaction. It is of great importance to study the mechanisms through which subjective and objective characteristics of urban human settlements influence living satisfaction among residents. It is also important to discuss how to improve living satisfaction levels through the urban human settlements and to realize high-quality urban development. The research results show that in 2018, the overall level of life satisfaction among Chinese urban residents was relatively high. However, it is still necessary to continue to optimize the urban human settlements to improve residents’ life satisfaction. The objective characteristics of the urban human settlements, such as natural environmental comfort and environmental health, have a significant positive impact on residents’ life satisfaction. Residents’ subjective perceptions of government integrity, environmental protection, wealth gap, social security, medical conditions and medical level, as well as residents’ individual gender, age and health status also have a significant impact on residents’ life satisfaction. The direction and intensity of effects of different elements of the urban human settlements and residents’ personal attributes on urban residents’ life satisfaction have different characteristics in different regions.