SATISFACTION WITH THE URBAN AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT OF CHELYABINSK: RESULTS OF QUALITATIVE-QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

The study of satisfaction with urban environments utilizes a variety of methodologies, from singleitem questions to comprehensive lists that assess different aspects of living conditions. The aim of this quantitative and qualitative research is to determine which characteristics of the urban environment reliably reflect the satisfaction with a settlement and how socio-demographic indicators are associated with these assessments. The results of con-firmatory factor analysis on a sample from Chelyabinsk (N=313) (χ²/df = 3.26 (137/42), p < 0.001; TLI = 0.93, CFI = 0.947; RMSEA = 0.085 (90 % CI from 0.069 to 0.1), SRMR = 0.055) confirmed the existence of two latent variables: satisfaction with the urban environment (α = 0.87, M = 5.5, SD = 1.8) and satisfaction with the natural environment or ecological conditions (α = 0.86, M = 3.1, SD = 2.2). An increase in age and education level is associated with greater dissatisfaction with the ecological conditions, while longer residence leads to a more negative assessment of both the natural and urban environments. Conversely, those with higher incomes are more satisfied with the urban environment and its individual characteristics. The respondents were found to be only slightly satisfied or dissat-isfied with the city overall and its specific characteristics: education level, safety, infrastructure, availability and variety of recreational spaces, career opportunities, food prices, housing accessibility, and quality of healthcare. At the same time, we found a manifested dissatisfaction with the state of the natural environment (ecology, water, and air quality). According to the qualitative analysis, the most problematic issues in the region are «Ecology» (n = 236, 81.7 %) and «Transport Infrastructure» (n = 96, 33.2 %). These are followed by the categories «City Infrastructure» (n = 70, 24.2 %) and public services «Education and Medicine» (n = 30, 10.4 %). The possibilities of applying these results to future studies of urban satisfaction are discussed.