3 Designing happier places
In this course you have learned about some of the ways in which people might be impacted by the places they live in. How could these be used to help build and create happier places?
In this section you will think about some different aspects of places and how they might be designed or organised to maximise people’s wellbeing. First, complete Activity 6 to start to think through these ideas.
Activity 6: Places that work for people
Look at the example below and see if you can think of a way to design a place to help the problem.
Rosie is an older person living in sheltered housing in a moderate sized town. She has family living between two and three hours away who visit regularly but don’t get to see her that often.
Rosie has reasonable mobility but struggles with standing up for long.
Discussion
You might have thought here about aspects of where Rosie lives that could help her to get around easily and access people and activities out of the home. You also might have thought about what might help her to get around with reduced mobility and feel sage. Some possibilities include:
- Good quality transport connecting to amenities.
- Walkable pavements.
- Benches.
- Good quality street lighting.
There is a significant interest in town planning and architecture in designing and building places that better support people’s well-being. Some of the most common issues raised in this field are walkability, access, and safety. Places that are more walkable and have lots of amenities within easy reach are thought to have lots of additional benefits. If people are out walking around their local area, using local services and feeling safe, then they will also see the same people regularly, and build up feelings of familiarity and trust with others (Montgomery, 2013). Similarly, good quality transport networks have lots of additional benefits meaning that people are able to access facilities, maintain relationships and sustain employment. There is no magic solution, but places that help to facilitate, rather than limit people’s lives, relationships and activities seem to offer the key to good well-being.
In Activity 6, you explored how to think about making places that function well for people’s everyday lives. Another strand of research in this area has focussed on making places that are relaxing and restorative, including in cities. Complete Activity 7 to explore this idea further.
Activity 7: Creating restorative cities
Earlier in the course you learned about the ways that urban environments are known to be a risk for mental health. Most people in the work live in cities, so the answer to this problem can’t be to get everyone to move to a rural location! Some researchers and designers have instead tried to build in more relaxing elements in city environments.
Watch the following short video from ‘Project DeStress’ led by Dr. Sarah Payne from the University of Surrey. This video is an example from a virtual reality public space that can be modified to see how different aspects of the space affect how people feel. As you watch the video make notes of:
- Which versions of the space you find more and less relaxing.
- What aspects or elements of the space you think most contribute to feelings of relaxation or restoration?
Answer
You may have noticed the variations in sound – natural sounds, sounds of traffic, and people. You may also have noticed the variations in the amount of greenery present. You have already explored the ways in which views of nature can help well-being, and the ways that sounds in the home can be stressful. In public places, natural sounds, especially birdsong, have been found to be more relaxing than mechanical sounds such as traffic (Payne, 2013). City environments that incorporate natural views and sounds, and include some respite from traffic noise, may therefore be an important tool in creating happier places.
OpenLearn - How places affect well-being
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