Working paper: SoftGIS-method in revealing residents’ perceived living environment

Quality of our living environment matters. As in book called Place Matter is said: ”Where we live makes a big difference in the quality of our lives.” (Dreier et al. 2001). Quality of the living environment has been in the interest of different disciplines. Environmental psychology, geography, sociology, communicative and collaborative urban planning are mainly those fields, as Manzo et al. (2006) says, that gives us a more deeper understanding “– not only how planning impacts our experience of place, but also how community-focused emotions, cognitions, and behaviours can impact community planning and development”. To these fields the geographical information science (GIS) can offer a substantial addition by giving a possibility to study the quality of the living environment extensively.