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1-Page Summary of Happy City

Overview

New York, Tokyo, Paris and London are some of the most famous cities in the world. The vibe of a city makes it unique and attracts people from all over the world. There are ways to create a positive vibe in your city by making sure residents feel content. You can do this by designing your city well so that there is less stress, more social interaction and equality for everyone who lives there.

You will also find out why parks with no trees are not ideal, but driving a car in the city is just as bad. California may be better than Ohio for your happiness, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.

Big Idea #1: City suburbs were designed to make us happier, but things haven’t quite worked out that way.

If you took a trip back in time to visit your favorite nineteenth-century metropolis, it probably wouldn’t be as great because of the filth and disease. Urban planners asked themselves how they could improve urban planning.

In the early twentieth century, urban planners realized that cities were more efficient if they spread out over a larger area. This was an improvement from the cramped cities of industrial revolution times – plus, cars allowed city-dwellers to escape into nature occasionally.

For a long time, people who lived in the city were unhealthy and overworked. However, they eventually found ways to make their cities better. In contrast, suburban dwellers continue to live stressful lives that are far less healthy than those of urbanites.

Suburbanites must travel longer distances to get to work, school and other places. This leaves them more tired than city dwellers because they have less energy.

In 2008, two economists found that the longer a German citizen’s commute was, the less satisfied they were with their lives.

Spending too much time on the road can lead to loneliness, which has a negative impact on your happiness. To prove this point, economist John Halliwell studied the Gallup World Polls from 2003 to 2010 and found that relationships with other people have more of an effect on our overall happiness than anything else—even income.

Suburban sprawl was a great idea when it first came about, but it didn’t work out very well. Can cities make up for the mistakes of suburban sprawl?

Big Idea #2: Banning cars and staying on top of maintenance keep public spaces appealing.

How can you bring people together? One way is to create a special place for them to meet. Urban planners do that when they make public spaces, but not all public places are created equally. When there’s too much traffic or noise, those places aren’t very fun to visit and the people who live around them don’t interact with each other as much. A 1971 study showed that on streets where there was less traffic, residents had three friends and six acquaintances living nearby. On streets where there was more traffic, residents only had one friend and three acquaintances living nearby.

In 1962, Copenhagen’s City Council thought of a quick solution to their traffic problem. They decided to prohibit cars from driving on downtown roads and created the Strøget. Many people were skeptical that Danes would actually hang out in the street, but they soon realized that it was an excellent idea because there are many happy urban residents walking along the streets and watching life go by.

If you want to make cities nicer, ban cars and keep public spaces clean. Garbage, graffiti and cracked pavement cause subconscious feelings of fear and anxiety in people, especially older generations. We’re much more likely to visit places that are neat and cared for.