Evaluating the urban environment to improve quality of life in Srinagar, India: the use of the Urban Landscape Quality Index

ABSTRACT Rapid urbanisation puts significant pressure on the quality of life for urban residents, creating major challenges for urban planners. Access to accurate and timely data to inform municipal planning decisions adds to these challenges. This article investigates the potential of an Urban Landscape Quality Index (ULQI) model, which is based on visual assessments of the urban environment. The article compares the results of the ULQI with those from a more resource-intensive data collection process using landscape quality perception surveys with city inhabitants. The results from the study in Srinagar city, India, suggest that there is a high level of similarity between the results from the ULQI approach and residents’ surveys. This indicates that visual assessment of landscape to calculate ULQI is an efficient approach and can be used by urban planners to prioritise those areas that need immediate attention.