כמה טוב שבאת הביתה? שביעות רצון ממקום המגורים וחשיבותם של היבטים סביבתיים: [מתוך המדור: חזית המחקר]

Local authorities are responsible for policy and programs in many fields of relevance to quality of life and sustainability. Many authorities around the world make use of public opinion surveys to assess levels of resident satisfaction, to prioritize between different areas of activity and populations, and to assess authorities performance. Basing decisions on allocation of public resources on data from public opinion surveys is not common practice among many Israeli local authorities. This research, based on survey data from the Central Bureau of Statistics for 2014 and 2021, aims to determine the factors with the greatest influence on the likelihood of resident satisfaction, and specifically the importance of environmental factors. The analysis was based on a logistic regression of relating to five categories of variables including sociodemographic, environment, personal security, community and transport. The research demonstrates that environmental variables, and in particular cleanliness and open space, are the strongest determinants of the likelihood of resident satisfaction in Israeli localities. Other dominant variables included personal safety and neighborly connections. Moreover, the research found that satisfaction with access to public transport is not strongly associated with levels of overall satisfaction. The research discusses the explanations for these findings and includes several recommendations for local decision-makers. It proposes investing in issues associated with high inferred importance, but low satisfaction rates, while not neglecting issues of high public interest even if associated with low inferred importance.