Abstract
Why is living in the city more attractive in some places than in others? How can policymakers, urban planners and engineers work together to make cities better places to live for urban residents? One way to understand what makes a city liveable is to examine a key measure of quality of life: individual level happiness. Recent research suggests that happiness is not simply a function of individual factors such as health, wealth and social relations. Happiness is also influenced by where people live. City residents are happier if they feel connected to their cities and neighbourhoods and feel positively about the state of city services. Using a sample of over 5000 urban residents in five major cities, this paper builds on recent findings that indicate the happiness of city residents is affected by citizen perceptions of their city as a place to live and their evaluations of the essential services provided by government and non-profit organisations. Using structural equation modelling, the authors demonstrate that latent variables tapping these perceptions have both direct and indirect influences on self-perceptions of happiness in five major cities.
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 127-136 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the ICE - Urban Design and Planning |
| Volume | 165 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sep 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Keywords
- pubic policy
- town and city planning
- urban regeneration
Cite this
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Untangling what makes cities liveable : happiness in five cities. / Goldberg, Abraham; Leyden, Kevin M.; Scotto, Thomas J.
In: Proceedings of the ICE - Urban Design and Planning, Vol. 165, No. 3, 09.2012, p. 127-136.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Untangling what makes cities liveable
T2 - Proceedings of the ICE - Urban Design and Planning
AU - Goldberg, Abraham
AU - Leyden, Kevin M.
AU - Scotto, Thomas J.
PY - 2012/9
Y1 - 2012/9
N2 - Why is living in the city more attractive in some places than in others? How can policymakers, urban planners and engineers work together to make cities better places to live for urban residents? One way to understand what makes a city liveable is to examine a key measure of quality of life: individual level happiness. Recent research suggests that happiness is not simply a function of individual factors such as health, wealth and social relations. Happiness is also influenced by where people live. City residents are happier if they feel connected to their cities and neighbourhoods and feel positively about the state of city services. Using a sample of over 5000 urban residents in five major cities, this paper builds on recent findings that indicate the happiness of city residents is affected by citizen perceptions of their city as a place to live and their evaluations of the essential services provided by government and non-profit organisations. Using structural equation modelling, the authors demonstrate that latent variables tapping these perceptions have both direct and indirect influences on self-perceptions of happiness in five major cities.
AB - Why is living in the city more attractive in some places than in others? How can policymakers, urban planners and engineers work together to make cities better places to live for urban residents? One way to understand what makes a city liveable is to examine a key measure of quality of life: individual level happiness. Recent research suggests that happiness is not simply a function of individual factors such as health, wealth and social relations. Happiness is also influenced by where people live. City residents are happier if they feel connected to their cities and neighbourhoods and feel positively about the state of city services. Using a sample of over 5000 urban residents in five major cities, this paper builds on recent findings that indicate the happiness of city residents is affected by citizen perceptions of their city as a place to live and their evaluations of the essential services provided by government and non-profit organisations. Using structural equation modelling, the authors demonstrate that latent variables tapping these perceptions have both direct and indirect influences on self-perceptions of happiness in five major cities.
KW - pubic policy
KW - town and city planning
KW - urban regeneration
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84871053170&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1680/udap.11.00031
DO - 10.1680/udap.11.00031
M3 - Article
VL - 165
SP - 127
EP - 136
JO - Proceedings of the ICE - Urban Design and Planning
JF - Proceedings of the ICE - Urban Design and Planning
SN - 1755-0793
IS - 3
ER -