Finding happiness in the characteristics of different public places

The physical environment of our towns and cities has largely been created in a socio-cultural political process that has been codified in the survey-analysis-plan practices of built environmental professionals and other actors. These processes arose from the political reaction to the 19th Century health and social order crises produced by the overcrowded, epidemic-prone and crime-ridden towns and cities of the Industrial Revolution. There is a growing understanding that current practices largely fail to produce places that meet the diverse needs of people and that happiness, quality of life and subjective wellbeing are mutually interdependent. One of the more promising developments is the Happy City movement which draws insights from psychology, neuroscience and the successful characteristics of urban design. However, to understand the emotional relationship of the characteristics of urban places we need to investigate the emotional landscape of towns and cities. To do this we need to look beyond statistical identities to the hidden identities of personalities.