A Livable City Study in China Using Structural Equation Models

The concept of livable city was put forward naturally and began to gain more attention when people care more about human needs during the economic development. In this paper, we define a livable city as an urban area takes the residents’ demand as first priority. It has a pleasant ecological environment, a mature community with rich public resources such as culture, transportation and medical system, and being economically well developed. Our study first reviews the theory development and literature on the subject. Then we set up a structural equation model (SEM) to verify the theory based on early works and find the dimensions that are important to the development of livable city. Using the data from China City Yearbook, 2007, a SEM analysis was performed. The result showed that a well developing economic system has positive influence on a city’s livability.