Аңдатпа
The article's aim is to assess the factors determining the quality of urban spaces as districts, quarters, neighborhoods.Methodologically the paper juxtaposes the analysis of selected scientific literature, with that of the transformations of the city of Almaty (Kazakhstan) from the mid 20th century.The case study has been selected for its significance within the Eurasian context, the relevance of the transformations that, in the last century, molded the city's present, and its inner differentiation, single districts having showed quite different development path, deeply contributing in determining actual quality of life of their inhabitants.After having discussed selected scientific literature on the topic, the paper analyses the different districts of the city, verifying, through empirical reconstruction of their origins and transformations, how, in the course of history, they assumed diverse, and sometimes diverging characters directly influencing the quality of their urban space.Quality of life in single districts has been assessed using a set of quantitative indicators as safety, comfort of living, environment, diversification and modernity of structures and services, business environment, social development, and human capital.Indicators, therefore, reflect features used as proxies for evaluating the city's standards.Indicators have been constructed exploiting open sources data produced by the Department of Statistics of Almaty, the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Records of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Department of Emergency Situations of Almaty, 2GIS, RSE Kazhydromet.The results of the research demonstrate that the city of Almaty is still characterized by high inner differences in terms of level of development; that these diversities have historical roots; and that development projects, far from reducing them, have in fact contributed to enhance distances between "high quality" and "poor quality" areas.This last point is of the utmost importance.As conclusion, in fact, the paper suggests that future urban policies should try to reduce difference before implementing further development plans especially in terms of special expansion, in order to avoid the risk of ever greater unbalances