Happiness as a Goal of our Built Environment
The introductory chapter for this volume is titled “Building Happier Cities” by Dr. Aubrilyn Reeder. She describes how people have been moving into cities in unprecedented numbers. This has also led private investors and development banks to be more interested in long-term infrastructure and real estate investments. This has presented an opportunity to build cities that enable social, environmental, and economic well-being for residents, workers, and visitors.
The word happiness has become trendy lately. The World Happiness Report was first published by the UN in 2011. Around the world, governments, schools, employers, and organizations are taking initiatives to make their users and constituents happier. As a result, happiness can now be viewed as a development goal.
In previous decades GDP dominated discussions of a nation’s progress and development. In contrast, happiness as a measure is subjective. To measure it, Reeder presents multiple reliable methods. The methodology relies heavily on self-evaluation and self-reporting. Surveys examine components of overall happiness that include:
Daily Affect: the emotions we feel day to day, which can constantly change
Life Satisfaction: how satisfied people feel with their lives overall
Satisfaction in Specific Domains: areas like health, finances, social connection, employment, etc.
Eudaimonia: A concept from Aristotle that includes being aware of your life purpose and highest abilities and then fulfilling that purpose with your abilities
The World Happiness Report also cites six factors as the most determinant of national happiness scores. First, GDP per capita is the greatest, then social support, life expectancy, generosity, freedom, and finally, perceptions of corruption.
Reeder wraps up her chapter by describing how our built environment can impact happiness. One major factor is walkability, which promotes healthy physical exercise, easier use of essential services such as pharmacies, care clinics, and post offices, and environmental, social, and economic benefits. Built environments also shape things like public gatherings and perceptions of corruption. Happiness offers a broad measure of tools and metrics to examine more aspects of development and quality of life. We can use this data to inform our built environment to improve happiness.
About the Author
Stella Hudson is a Graduate Assistant with the Baha’i Chair for World Peace. She graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2021 with a B.A. in English. She will graduate from the University of Maryland with her MLIS in spring 2023.