Abstract:
Interest in livability of cities has been on the rise for almost four decades. That livability,
sustainability and resilience are intertwined is non-debatable. However, the definition of
livability still remains marred with difficulties because of seemingly conflicting views. Therefore,
it remains less understood among policy-makers and researchers with some perceiving it as
quality of life while others perceive it as an environmental quality. This work brings in the views
of Charles Tiebout into the livability debate. The objective of this paper is to categorically show
that livability is a characteristic of the environment not a quality of life as argued by some
authors. The results from the arguments presented show that livability is a public good which
enhances life satisfaction and, therefore, quality of life. This corroborates the predictions of the
Tiebout model. By so doing, the study managed to show that livability is not quality of life but a
person-environment relationship to enhance happiness. Therefore, researchers, planners and
policy-makers must understand livability in the context of the person-environment relationship
with livability being a public good.
