UNDERSTANDING QUALITATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF LIVABILITY: AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

Rama Umesh Pandey, Yogesh Kumar Garg, Alka Bharat

Abstract: Livability encompasses numerous factors that depend on locally prevailing economic, social and cultural circumstances and therefore becomes necessary to contextualize livability by enlarging focus beyond generic attributes. Livability now a day is pre-requisite for healthy living coupled with economic and social survival therefore, is very important for improving the quality of life.The aim of this paper is to understand qualitative conceptions of livability in an Indian context. A metropolitan city of India with emerging growth potential for real estate development is selected for the study. Inhabitants of residential areas were asked to freely express their understanding of livability. The observations, comments and statements made by inhabitants were recorded and later transcribed. Care was taken to ensure that, as far as possible, the sense of participants’ comments was not altered. A qualitative research approach was used to analyze these responses of inhabitants. An iterative process of data interpretation was undertaken to discern the common factors and important aspects, arising from inhabitant’s perceptions of livability. The responses of inhabitants suggest various ways and provide direction for identification of livability attributes that are important in contributing towards livability in Indian perspective. Overall twenty categories of responses were identified as livability attributes which summarizes the conceptions of livability as understood by inhabitants. to define in the limited number of qualitatively different ways, in which people experience, interpret, understand, perceive or conceptualize a phenomenon or certain aspect of reality with a minimum of researcher’s interference

Keywords: Conceptions, Inhabitants, Livability, Qualitative and Responses

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2013.0212064