Braj Raj Kumar Sinha Editor Multidimensional Approach to Quality of Life Issues A Spatial Analysis Multidimensional Approach to Quality of Life Issues Braj Raj Kumar Sinha Editor Multidimensional Approach to Quality of Life Issues A Spatial Analysis 123 Editor Braj Raj Kumar Sinha Department of Geography Institute of Science Banaras Hindu University Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India ISBN 978-981-13-6957-5 ISBN 978-981-13-6958-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6958-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2019934350 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 This work is subject to copyright. 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Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore Foreword by P. P. Karan Professor Braj Raj Kumar Sinha’s edited volume on the quality of life comes not a moment too soon. The quality of life has stagnated in most countries. In addition to economic, environmental and social evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of life, aspects of culture, values and spirituality are also the key domains of the overall quality of life. This book contributes to the overall assessment of the quality of life in various regions and countries. The contributors brought together in this volume represent some of the most incisive minds working on various aspects of the broader quality of life in various areas of the world. They are experts and researchers. Their individual insights and findings have been drawn together and multiplied through the masterful curation of Prof. Sinha, who has a rich tradition of scholarly research focused on human resources and the quality of life. This book brings insight and ideas on the quality of life from scholars around the world, and their expertise on the topic is deep and broad. Focusing on a range of key issues, the book has captured the scale and complexity of as well as the need for resetting policies at the national and state levels. It is rare to find a group of scholars as accomplished and diverse as those represented in this volume. Their research builds a strong foundation for a real dialogue about the quality of human resources at a v vi Foreword by P. P. Karan time when a generational change in human resources will set the course for decades to come. This book will promote an international conversation which will help provide a crucible for new ideas and a new commitment to research that could restore the path to a better quality of life. This excellent volume will be a very valuable resource to key policy framers and decision-makers as well as scholars in social sciences interested in the quality of human resources. Lexington, KY, USA Prof. P. P. Karan March 2018 University Research Professor Department of Geography College of Arts and Science University of Kentucky Foreword by Sudeepta Adhikari Multidimensional Approach to Quality of Life Issues: A Spatial Analysis is an edited volume by Prof. Braj Raj Kumar Sinha that necessarily comprises chapters on various issues, pertaining to the quality of life. Contributors of the chapters of the book, belonging to the countries of the developed world, developing world and underdeveloped world, or more specifically of the countries of the core economy, peripheral economy and semi-peripheral economy, have attempted to elucidate the meaning of the quality of life in their respective countries through their valued contributions. Contributors of the developed and/or the core economy countries like the USA, the UK and Canada in their respective contributions to the volume have attempted to reveal their conceptualizations of the quality of life, and impending issues, while the contributors of the peripheral countries (vast majority of the countries of the world belong to the category of the peripheral economy, with no role, or stake in the world economy) like Nigeria, Romania, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, etc., in their respective contributions to the volume have spoken of it in different ways, which do not specify clearly the philosophical and methodological stances of the quality of life. The contributors of the semi-peripheral countries like China and India in their respective contributions to the volume have drawn a parallel between the developed and underdeveloped episteme of the quality of life vii viii Foreword by Sudeepta Adhikari and made their deductions over the issues. Conceptually, the concept of the quality of life is multidisciplinary, and as such, it is holistic, because it incorporates every aspect of human’s daily life in its fold. It is not exclusively economic; rather, it has cultural, social, political and recreational underpinnings. The volume is well expressive of the varied views of different corners of the world on the quality of life and related issues of it. Most of the contributions to the volume are scientificin nature, but a few contributions reveal a sustained kind of phenomenological underpinnings. The volume is, therefore, characterized by such contributions that tend to make it an exemplar that might open up new opportunities for further researches (both applied and fundamental) on the quality of life. The edited volume will be highly useful to academics, bureaucracy and planners, particularly those involved and engaged in both micro-level planning and macro-level planning, pertaining to improving and enhancing the human quality of life. Patna, Bihar Dr. Sudeepta Adhikari January 2019 Professor of Geography Department of Geography Patna University Preface The quality of life is a global challenge for the twenty-first century. It is a multi- dimensional concept and includes various social, cultural, economic, political, demographic and environmental aspects. These aspects play a foundational role in the life condition of people everywhere. The quality of life is a key element of social planning, the aim of which is to promote and enhance the quality of life of an individual; of a family or inhabitants of a village, town, region, state and nation; and of the world by reducing detrimental conditions or circumstances over a given time. In this direction, the sustainable development and environmental justice approach would positively work in maintaining and promoting the quality of life of people. Despite these, studies on the quality of life in the field of geography have been scanty as geographers haven’t to date paid much attention to this topic. The sig- nificance of space, time and society (the main domain of geographers) in the context of QOL has prompted me to collect and compile scholarly contributions from across continents in book form to fill an important gap in the literature on QOL. This book includes 27 chapters, and these are organized into four parts. Part I includes six papers and systematically describes the perspective of theoretical dimension. ‘Introduction: An Overview of the Quality of Life’ as a first chapter by the Editor is of special interest to the readers as it addresses in greater detail the historical perspective, concepts and definition, dimensions, significance, determi- nants, indicators and method of evaluating the quality of life. Such a comprehensive picture on the quality of life in a holistic form is scarcely available in the existing literature of the subject under study. The work of Upuli Perera and Collins Adjei Manesh (UK) on ‘Housing Affordability as a Reflexivity of Quality of Life’ is a significant contribution to this book. They address housing as one of the basic necessities of life. According to them, housing enhances the quality of life of individuals in diverse ways. This chapter specifically explores the reflexivity of housing affordability on the quality of life. It starts first by discussing the concept of the quality of life and highlights various elements or attributes of the quality of life. It continues by focusing on the ix x Preface concept of housing and housing affordability to trace the divergent views expressed on these concepts and how these views influence the quality of life. The last section of this chapter treats housing affordability and its reflexivity on the quality of life by discussing how the indicators and measurement of housing affordability have changed over space and time and how such changes have reflected in the present thinking of the quality of life. The chapter makes significant contributions in both theory and practice. It contributes to the existing knowledge on the concept of the quality of life by bringing on board housing affordability and its linkages with the quality of life. It also highlights various elements or indicators that are critical to both housing affordability and the quality of life that policy-makers can dwell on to make informed decisions to enhance the well-being of the general public.