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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
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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.

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