Urban environment characteristics and their implications on emotional happiness and well-being: Proposal of a theoretical and conceptual framework

Cities, towns, streets, and urban places are comprised of urban features arranged according to an array of planning rules, economic, political, social and community needs. From a macro scale, they are a patchwork of land uses, roads, and infrastructure integrated, in some ways flawlessly, but at a finer scale the very fabric of this intricate patchwork has a profound impact and influences the lives of people on a daily basis. Often, unbeknownst to the user. Urban places can have positive effects, such as boosting individual happiness, when they are comprised of visually pleasing aesthetic qualities (Seresinhe et al., 2019). Or, they can also have negative effects, such as increasing the likelihood of developing mental illnesses (Kelly et al., 2010, van Os et al., 2010). Since the new millennium studies have increasingly investigated the relationship between environmental factors and mental health, well-being and happiness (Seresinhe et al., 2019, Bratman et al., 2015, Hartig et al., 2003, MacKerron and Mourato, 2013, Van den berg et al., 2010, White et al., 2013, Okulicz-Kozaryn and Mazelis, 2016, Abdullah and Zulkifli, 2016). Some of these studies have found that urban dwelling (Srivastava, 2009, Gruebner et al., 2017) and the actual physical fabric of the environment (urban design) impacts upon mental health (Golembiewski, 2017, Golembiewski, 2016, Gharib et al., 2017). Happiness can also be adversely impacted by urban environments (Pringle and Guaralda, 2018, Samavati and Ranjbar, 2017, Abdullah and Zulkifli, 2016). It is important to understand how these notions of happiness and well-being are impacted by environmental factors, such as the designed environment because they are components of mental health (World Health Organization, 2004, Galderisi et al., 2015, Lamers et al., 2011). The designed environment is where a vast majority of the population, currently, and will continue to live. The rapid increase in urban population is amongst the most important global health issues this century (Srivastava, 2009). Therefore, maintaining public health is increasingly important for developed nations, that are experiencing high rates of population growth within urban areas, because they are exposing more people to urban dwelling, which can adversely impact upon the various components of mental health. Thus, investigating ways in which planning and design could mitigate or reduce such impacts is essential. Whilst that is an aim for future research, within this article, the authors explore an overview of the literature on mental health and environmental factors, the concepts of happiness and well-being, in relation to the environment, including the theories which are referenced in literature from a variety of medical, planning, architecture and design fields, to arrive at an understanding of how these concepts may be applied to the urban context. This is proposed through the development of the theoretical and conceptual framework which is formed as a result of reviewing a range of literature and theories that discuss mental health, happiness, well-being, and the physical environment (both natural and urban). The aim of this paper is to present the theoretical and conceptual framework used to guide the research process, so that reliable, empirical evidence can be developed in subsequent studies.