A stylised fact in regional and urban studies of life satisfaction in developed countries is that people living in cities report being less satisfied than those in rural areas. Building upon the theoretical framework of Sen’s capability approach, along with research on life satisfaction and amenities, this paper examines the role of amenity availability and accessibility, as well as social relations, in shaping life satisfaction. Using data from the 2013–2018 household survey conducted by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in Italian regions at the NUTS2 level, this study explores the role of availability and accessibility of amenities and social relations on urban–rural life satisfaction. Results suggest that the likelihood of having higher life satisfaction is associated with living in wealthier rural places where higher-ranked cities exert accessibility and positive externalities in line with the borrowed size concept by Alonso (Daedalus 102(4):191–206, 1973).

在发达国家的区域和城市生活满意度研究中，一个典型的事实是，生活在城市的人们的满意度低于农村地区的人们。本文以森能力方法的理论框架为基础，结合对生活满意度和便利设施的研究，探讨了便利设施的可用性和可达性以及社会关系在塑造生活满意度中的作用。本研究利用国家统计局 (ISTAT) 在意大利地区 NUTS2 层面进行的 2013-2018 年家庭调查数据，探讨了便利设施的可用性和可达性以及社会关系对城乡生活满意度的作用。结果表明，生活满意度较高的可能性与生活在较富裕的农村地区有关，在这些地区，排名较高的城市发挥着可达性和正外部性，符合阿隆索借用的规模概念（Daedalus 102(4):191–206, 1973） 。