Urban form, quality of life, natural and built environments
In this paper, we discuss the basic elements of urban form theory and the approaches used to measure both the quality of life and that of the built and natural environments found in urban space. We try combining the socio-economic, morphologic and environmental aspects of urban space in order to choose the key variables needed to put the Montréal metropolitan area to a test. The goal of this proposal is to develop a synthetic analytical model based on a limited number of indicators. Stemming from a factorial analysis, our results show the lasting stability of the spatial structures inherited from the industrial metropolis.