Using Soft Systems Methodology to Analyze Quality of Life and Continuous Urban Development

The population pressure over municipal administrations has increase in most cities in the world stimulated by citizen’s wishes for better quality of life. People seem to have improved their standards and demands with respect to quality of life when compared to the past. Citizens begin to understand the economic and social benefits of preserving their cultural heritage and, consequently, try to slow down the politicians' enthusiasm to refurbish and frantically spread the cities. The culture background, the problems, and the potentialities are different from city to city. Consequently, the needs and wishes also are widely different. Trying to find out which variables are the most important for strategic analysis is a different task for each different place. This paper describes a possible application of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) to analyze quality of life and continuous urban development.