Achieving urban happiness: factors and principles

Urban happiness is strongly interwoven with social, environmental, economic, philosophical studies and, according with the quick transformation of lifestyles, needs and habits, the definition is in continuous change. On the other hand the definition looks to be similar to that used for defining well-being, quality of life, and, in a certain sense, sustainability. Urban happiness could be defined as a character which gives to the place a positive perception in people who live it and which induces them to spend long time there and/or to live there again the same experience. Factors which influence happiness are many and not all depend on the beauty of the place. Starting from these premises, aim of this paper is to identify what are these factors and how they are capable to influence happiness. Furthermore, referring to places where urban happiness has been observed using an original modality of collecting tangible and intangible data and movements of people, the paper will propose principles for happy urban environments. The principles should not be considered static, but dynamic, in keeping with the increasingly rapid rates of change in a place that continually lead to expanding the scope of the concept. These principles in their present form may thus be constantly updated in order to allow not only sustainable changes in the contemporary city but also for new procedures and requirements in site design.