Physical Capital: Liveability in 2005

In 2002, MORI Social Research Institute published our first report on Liveability, called “The Rising Prominence of Liveability - Are we condemned to a life of grime”. Three years on, we revisit a subject area that has grown in importance to policy makers in key government departments. Our analysis is telling, and indeed, encouraging. Local government has woken up to its problems on the central Liveability issues and people are starting to notice changes on the ground.

This continues the story we began in 2002. We examine some of the key liveability trends - how priorities for communities have changed over time and how residents feel about the environments they inhabit. This leads us on to questions about what this means for local government and strategic partnerships. We also look at how the public frame the issue through the language they use when talking about where they live. We finish by presenting a new index which captures important data on physical characteristics of areas and explains how these relate to overall views. In short, what is it that drives perceptions of “visual quality”?