An approach to defining strategies for improving city perception. Case study of Valencia, Spain

In times of economic crisis, scanty resources must be invested in improving attributes that citizens perceive as relevant. In this regard, many studies have analysed the set of attributes in a city that are able to increase citizen satisfaction. These studies consider that the relationship between these variables (attributes-citizens' response) is linear. Thus urban managers will decide to invest in all attributes with low levels of implementation. However, as theoretical and empirical studies have shown this relationship may be non-linear, so investments may be made in attributes where citizens do not perceive improvements. Kano's Model provides an effective way of categorising user requirements and helps understand the nature of these requirements considering possible non-linear behaviours. This technique categorises the attributes into three classes depending on their ability to create satisfaction or cause dissatisfaction: exciter, linear and basic. This paper attempts to present a method for defining strategies that improve perception of the city using Kano's classification. A practical example in the city of Valencia (Spain) is presented. A sample of 153 citizens evaluated different neighbourhoods in the city. The study defines the attributes citizens use to describe neighbourhoods, classifying them according to Kano's Model, and then defines action strategies. The results show that the relationship between most perception attributes and citizens' evaluations is asymmetrical and non-linear, and therefore perception analysis models should not be compensatory or linear. These findings demonstrate the need to apply this type of technique because traditional techniques are able to identify linear attributes but not basic and exciter factors. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.