An interesting report on the assessment of living conditions in the city was developed as part of the project “Zgierz – a modern city after hours”. The survey on the quality of life in Zgierz and the identification of residents with their city was conducted on a group of over seven hundred respondents. The results can be described as satisfactory.
The study was conducted in paper form during the Summer End event in the City Park in Zgierz (September 11, 2022) – and in the online form, on October 4-10, 2022, at the city.zgierz.pl website.
The respondents answered the questions in three parts of the form. The first concerned identification with the city and consisted of six closed questions, the second was open-ended and consisted in completing the sentence “Zgierz is for me…”. The third part of the study was related to the assessment of the quality of life in the city and contained 16 issues, which were rated by residents on a scale of 1 to 5. As a result, 713 questionnaires were received, of which 173 were in paper form and 540 in the Internet form.
How do the inhabitants of Zgierz identify with their own city?
Residents of Zgierz express the level of their identification with Zgierz at the level of 67.1%. Young people (up to 18 years old) and the oldest people (over 65 years old) declare identification with the city to the greatest extent. These age groups also rate the quality of life in Zgierz the best. The level of identification with the city and the assessment of the quality of life decrease with the increase in the education of the respondents. Gender has no significant meaning for the level of identification with the city or the assessment of the quality of life.
How do the inhabitants of Zgierz assess the quality of life in the city?
The overall quality of life in the city is assessed by residents as 2.94 on a scale of 1 to 5, i.e. as “average”. The respondents’ overall satisfaction with their personal lives is rated the highest, as well as their neighborly relations and ties. Slightly above average results were also achieved by: the level of education of children and youth, the quality of the sports and cultural offer. Environmental, spatial and management issues are ranked the worst: air quality, condition of road infrastructure and the level of trust in local authorities. The issues of health protection and the condition of the natural environment and green areas are also poorly perceived.
Will the outcoming report be useful?
The most important thing to summarize the prepared report is the statement that the issues rated the worst by the respondents are related to the tasks implemented in the project “Zgierz – Modern City After Hours”. In spatial and environmental topics, these are e.g. determination of the current state of non-reclaimed waste landfills, their impact on the environment as well as the technology and costs of their reclamation. In the area of city management, the Social Development Strategy for the City of Zgierz 2040 is being developed, the Office for Social Participation and NGOs has been established, and it is planned to develop and implement a senior policy, youth policy and a city development program based on the Smart City concept.
The survey was conducted in connection with the implementation of the project “Zgierz – A modern city after hours” under the “Local Development” Program co-financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism and the EEA Financial Mechanism.
The full text of the report can be found here:
