More Trouble in Paradise

Abstract

Many urban scholars have assumed that urbanization has had adverse effects on the quality of life of suburban residents, but there are few empirical tests of their hypotheses. The 1982 and 1991 Orange County, California, Annual Surveys indicate that perceived quality-of-life ratings have declined over the decade that this suburban region experienced urbanization. The hypothesis that city-level measures of urbanization, such as population size, density, heterogeneity, and growth rates, are related to lower quality-of-life ratings was only partially confirmed. Over time, high density and perceived rapid growth emerge as strong predictors of perceived quality of life.