Quality of Urban Life Across Urban Development Types: Examining the Determinations of Overall Life Satisfaction in Ulaanbaatar

This study examines the quality of urban life (QoUL) in Ulaanbaatar by analyzing variations in overall life satisfaction across urban development types and identifying the sociodemographic, housing, mobility, and domain-specific factors associated with these differences. An integrated methodological framework combining questionnaire survey data and spatial information was utilized to analyze 529 valid responses collected from five urban development contexts: new development, redevelopment, land readjustment, urban sprawl, and other areas. The analysis employed descriptive statistics, comparative group analysis, and ordinal logistic regression models. Overall life satisfaction differed significantly across development types. The land readjustment areas reported the highest mean value of life satisfaction (3.64), followed by new development (3.53), urban sprawl (3.32), redevelopment (3.13), and other areas (2.97). In the pooled model, higher educational attainment was negatively associated with overall life satisfaction (OR = 0.30, p < 0.05), possibly reflecting higher expectations among better educated residents. In contrast, longer residential duration, particularly beyond 10 years, was positively associated with overall life satisfaction, indicating the importance of residential stability and place attachment. Household composition also emerged as relevant, with family-related responsibilities and child-supportive living conditions shaping how urban environments are experienced. Across development types, accessibility, environmental quality, and dwelling satisfaction were the most consistent predictors. These findings indicate that improving QoUL in Ulaanbaatar requires development-type-specific, people-centered policies that integrate housing, transport, environmental improvement, neighborhood services, and family-supportive interventions to support more sustainable and equitable urban development.