IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v59y2022i1p140-160.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of immediate urban environments on people’s momentary happiness

Author

Listed:
  • Lingling Su

    (Sun Yat-sen University, China
    Guangdong Provincial Engineering Research Center for Public Security and Disaster, China)

  • Suhong Zhou

    (Sun Yat-sen University, China
    Guangdong Provincial Engineering Research Center for Public Security and Disaster, China)

  • Mei-Po Kwan

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
    Utrecht University, the Netherlands)

  • Yanwei Chai

    (Peking University, China)

  • Xue Zhang

    (Sun Yat-sen University, China
    Guangdong Provincial Engineering Research Center for Public Security and Disaster, China)

Abstract

The research interest of urban researchers and geographers in the relationship between urban environments and happiness has been increasing. Previous studies have mostly focused on people’s long-term overall wellbeing. However, there is limited evidence that momentary happiness is associated with immediate urban environments. This study provides new evidence on this issue. 144 participants living in Guangzhou, China, were asked to repeatedly self-report their momentary happiness through ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and the day reconstruction method (DRM). The microenvironment variables were captured by portable sensors, while the built environment variables were captured by associating the GPS response locations with objective spatial data. The results indicate that momentary happiness is influenced by immediate microenvironment variables and built environment characteristics including temperature, noise, PM 2.5 , population, POI density, POI types and street intersections. On the other hand, the use of different sizes of contextual units affects the results. The built environment in 100 m buffers and the microenvironment has higher explanatory power for momentary happiness recorded by EMA than the built environment in 500 m buffers. Similarly, the temporality of the contextual influences also affects the results. Urban environment features have higher explanatory power for real-time momentary happiness recorded by EMA than recalled momentary happiness recorded by DRM. These results also strongly corroborate the results of recent studies on the uncertain geographic context problem (UGCoP) and partly explain the inconsistency in the results of past research.

Suggested Citation

  • Lingling Su & Suhong Zhou & Mei-Po Kwan & Yanwei Chai & Xue Zhang, 2022. "The impact of immediate urban environments on people’s momentary happiness," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(1), pages 140-160, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:59:y:2022:i:1:p:140-160
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098020986499
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098020986499
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098020986499?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi & Jeremy Hunter, 2003. "Happiness in Everyday Life: The Uses of Experience Sampling," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 185-199, June.
    2. Amelie Gamble & Tommy Gärling, 2012. "The Relationships Between Life Satisfaction, Happiness, and Current Mood," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 31-45, March.
    3. Ed Diener & Louis Tay, 2014. "Review of the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 255-267, March.
    4. Bernard van den Berg & Ada Ferrer‐i‐Carbonell, 2007. "Monetary valuation of informal care: the well‐being valuation method," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(11), pages 1227-1244, November.
    5. Welsch, Heinz, 2006. "Environment and happiness: Valuation of air pollution using life satisfaction data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 801-813, July.
    6. Mei-Po Kwan, 2018. "The Limits of the Neighborhood Effect: Contextual Uncertainties in Geographic, Environmental Health, and Social Science Research," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 108(6), pages 1482-1490, November.
    7. Christopher Ambrey & Christopher Fleming, 2014. "Public Greenspace and Life Satisfaction in Urban Australia," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(6), pages 1290-1321, May.
    8. Sanna Ala-Mantila & Jukka Heinonen & Seppo Junnila & Perttu Saarsalmi, 2018. "Spatial nature of urban well-being," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(7), pages 959-973, July.
    9. Chu Kim-Prieto & Ed Diener & Maya Tamir & Christie Scollon & Marissa Diener, 2005. "Integrating The Diverse Definitions of Happiness: A Time-Sequential Framework of Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 261-300, September.
    10. Office of Health Economics, 2007. "The Economics of Health Care," For School 001490, Office of Health Economics.
    11. Philip Morrison, 2011. "Local Expressions of Subjective Well-being: The New Zealand Experience," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(8), pages 1039-1058.
    12. Dave Möwisch & Florian Schmiedek & David Richter & Annette Brose, 2019. "Capturing Affective Well-Being in Daily Life with the Day Reconstruction Method: A Refined View on Positive and Negative Affect," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 641-663, February.
    13. MacKerron, George & Mourato, Susana, 2009. "Life satisfaction and air quality in London," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 1441-1453, March.
    14. Samantha Dockray & Nina Grant & Arthur Stone & Daniel Kahneman & Jane Wardle & Andrew Steptoe, 2010. "A Comparison of Affect Ratings Obtained with Ecological Momentary Assessment and the Day Reconstruction Method," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 99(2), pages 269-283, November.
    15. Tim Schwanen & Donggen Wang, 2014. "Well-Being, Context, and Everyday Activities in Space and Time," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 104(4), pages 833-851, July.
    16. Brereton, Finbarr & Clinch, J. Peter & Ferreira, Susana, 2008. "Happiness, geography and the environment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 386-396, April.
    17. Juncal Cuñado & Fernando Gracia, 2013. "Environment and Happiness: New Evidence for Spain," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 549-567, July.
    18. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Paul Frijters, 2004. "How Important is Methodology for the estimates of the determinants of Happiness?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(497), pages 641-659, July.
    19. Oswald, Andrew J. & Wu, Stephen, 2010. "Objective Confirmation of Subjective Measures of Human Well-being: Evidence from the USA," IZA Discussion Papers 4695, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Paul Dolan & Richard Layard & Robert Metcalfe, 2011. "Measuring Subjective Wellbeing for Public Policy: Recommendations on Measures," CEP Reports 23, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yanyan Zhang & Meng Wang & Junyi Li & Jianxia Chang & Huan Lu, 2022. "Do Greener Urban Streets Provide Better Emotional Experiences? An Experimental Study on Chinese Tourists," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Lin Zhang & Suhong Zhou & Lanlan Qi & Yue Deng, 2022. "Nonlinear Effects of the Neighborhood Environments on Residents’ Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-17, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tiziana Laureti, 2014. "Life satisfaction and environmental conditions in Italy: a pseudo-panel approach," Discussion Papers 2014/192, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    2. John Feddersen & Robert Metcalfe & Mark Wooden, 2012. "Subjective Well-Being: Weather Matters; Climate Doesn't," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2012n25, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    3. Susana Ferreira & Mirko Moro, 2013. "Income and Preferences for the Environment: Evidence from Subjective Well-Being Data," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(3), pages 650-667, March.
    4. Ferreira, Susana & Akay, Alpaslan & Brereton, Finbarr & Cuñado, Juncal & Martinsson, Peter & Moro, Mirko & Ningal, Tine F., 2013. "Life satisfaction and air quality in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-10.
    5. Ambrey, Christopher L. & Fleming, Christopher M. & Chan, Andrew Yiu-Chung, 2014. "Estimating the cost of air pollution in South East Queensland: An application of the life satisfaction non-market valuation approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 172-181.
    6. Dolan, Paul & Fujiwara, Daniel & Metcalfe, Robert, 2011. "A step towards valuing utility the marginal and cardinal way," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121714, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. García-Mainar, Inmaculada & Montuenga, Víctor M. & Navarro-Paniagua, María, 2015. "Workplace environmental conditions and life satisfaction in Spain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 136-146.
    8. Karen Maguire & John V. Winters, 2017. "Energy Boom and Gloom? Local Effects of Oil and Natural Gas Drilling on Subjective Well†Being," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 590-610, December.
    9. Jarvis, Diane & Stoeckl, Natalie & Liu, Hong-Bo, 2016. "The impact of economic, social and environmental factors on trip satisfaction and the likelihood of visitors returning," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-18.
    10. Yuan, Liang & Shin, Kongjoo & Managi, Shunsuke, 2018. "Subjective Well-being and Environmental Quality: The Impact of Air Pollution and Green Coverage in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 124-138.
    11. Laffan, Kate, 2018. "Every breath you take, every move you make: Visits to the outdoors and physical activity help to explain the relationship between air pollution and subjective wellbeing," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 96-113.
    12. Bertram, Christine & Rehdanz, Katrin, 2015. "The role of urban green space for human well-being," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 139-152.
    13. Welsch, Heinz & Ferreira, Susana, 2014. "Environment, Well-Being, and Experienced Preference," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 7(3-4), pages 205-239, December.
    14. Ambrey, Christopher L. & Fleming, Christopher M., 2011. "Valuing scenic amenity using life satisfaction data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 106-115.
    15. Christopher Ambrey & Christopher Fleming, 2014. "Valuing Ecosystem Diversity in South East Queensland: A Life Satisfaction Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 45-65, January.
    16. Christopher Ambrey & Christopher Fleming, 2014. "Public Greenspace and Life Satisfaction in Urban Australia," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(6), pages 1290-1321, May.
    17. Feng Hou, 2014. "Keep Up with the Joneses or Keep on as Their Neighbours: Life Satisfaction and Income in Canadian Urban Neighbourhoods," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 1085-1107, October.
    18. Gustavo Ahumada & Victor Iturra & Mauricio Sarrias, 2020. "We Do Not Have the Same Tastes! Evaluating Individual Heterogeneity in the Preferences for Amenities," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 53-74, January.
    19. Kopmann, Angela & Rehdanz, Katrin, 2013. "A human well-being approach for assessing the value of natural land areas," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 20-33.
    20. Phil Lignier & Diane Jarvis & Daniel Grainger & Taha Chaiechi, 2024. "Spatial Heterogeneity and Subjective Wellbeing: Exploring the Role of Social Capital in Metropolitan Areas Using Multilevel Modelling," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 1-23, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:59:y:2022:i:1:p:140-160. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.