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Happy and Healthy Cities

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Health, Well-Being and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 May 2021) | Viewed by 39716

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Peter Nijkamp

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Guest Editor

Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS)
Interests: Peter Nijkamp is emeritus Professor in regional and urban economics and in economic geography at the VU University, and associated with the Open University (OU), Heerlen (The Netherlands), Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS) of the division Smart Cities, ‘s-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands), Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm (Sweden) and A. Mickiewicz University, Poznan (Poland). He is member of editorial/advisory boards of more than 30 journals. According to the RePec list he belongs to the top-30 of well-known economists world-wide. He is also a fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, and past vice-president of this organization. He has served as president of the governing board of the Netherlands Research Council (NWO). In 1996, he was awarded the most prestigious scientific prize in the Netherlands, the Spinoza award
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Dr. Karima Kourtit

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Management, The Open University of The Netherlands, Valkenburgerweg 177, 6419 AT Heerlen, The Netherlands
Interests: creative industries; urban development; cultural heritage; digital technology; strategic performance management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Marina Toger

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Guest Editor

Department of Cultural Geography, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Interests: urban models; human mobility; giscience; spatial analysis; regional science; urban computing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cities are engines of economic progress. But they also shape conditions for social capital and human well-being. The role of cities in modern times has become more prominent as a result of the world-wide rise in urbanisation, which has induced the rise of more and bigger cities (the so-called ‘New Urban World’). Clearly, cities are also under stress, seen from the perspective of poverty, environmental quality or crime. Cities in the ‘urban century’ (UN) are a melting pot of conflicting interests.

In recent years, we have witnessed a rising interest in ‘happy cities’. These are cities which have created favourable conditions (e.g., good quality of life, attractive neighbourhoods, accessible public space, community feeling) that are a stimulus for residents’ happiness. Interesting examples can be found in the ‘geography of happiness’, the ‘economics of happiness’, the ‘social psychology of happiness’, and so forth. The quantitative study of ‘happy cities’ is becoming a rich source of new ideas and conceptualisations on modern city life and deserves more prominent attention in the international literature.

In addition to ‘happy cities’, we also see an increasing popularity of ‘healthy cities’. These are cities which offer sound environmental conditions (e.g., liveability, air and water quality, green spaces, safe neighbourhoods, climate neutral production and consumption, virus-resistant cities) that favour individual and group well-being (mentally and physically). The recent literature shows a rising interest in the conditions for – and impacts of – healthy cities, often in relation to the emerging need for urban climate adaptation strategies.

The special issue of Sustainability on ‘Happy and Healthy Cities’ aims to generate a collection of evidence-based – preferably quantitative – studies on ‘Happy and Healthy Cities’. In addition to general critical review papers, the special issue welcomes original and cross-disciplinary papers, either as origin analytical case studies or as comparative studies, on the drivers and impacts of urban happiness and health. Policy studies addressing urban sustainability and resilience challenges in relation to happiness and health in cities deserves also a place in this special issue. Papers may address cities in both the developed and in the developing world.

Prof. Peter Nijkamp
Dr. Karima Kourtit
Dr. Marina Toger
Guest Editors

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Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

economics of happiness
geography of happiness
healthy cities
wellbeing
liveability of cities

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 173 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

From the Guest Editors: Happy and Healthy Cities

by Marina Toger, Karima Kourtit and Peter Nijkamp

Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12817; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132212817 - 19 Nov 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1286

Abstract

Cities in the 21st century are magnets for people and business [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

Research

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20 pages, 1330 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Whose Happiness in Which Cities? A Quantile Approach

by Philip S. Morrison

Sustainability 2021, 13(20), 11290; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132011290 - 13 Oct 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2124

Abstract

The proposition that living in the largest urban agglomerations of an advanced economy reduces the average wellbeing of residents is known as the urban wellbeing paradox. Empirical tests using subjective wellbeing have produced mixed results and there are two reasons for being cautious. Firstly, the default reliance on the conditional mean can disguise uneven effects across the wellbeing distribution. Secondly, relying on respondents to define their settlement size does not ensure a consistent measure of the agglomeration. I therefore apply quantile regression to the life satisfaction and happiness measures of wellbeing as collected by the 2018 European Social Survey (ESS9) and employ a consistent local labour market-based definition of agglomeration—The Functional Urban Area (FUA). I compare three countries as proof of concept: one with a known strong negative (respondent defined) agglomeration effect (Austria), one with a slight negative effect (Czech Republic), and one where living in the main agglomeration is positively associated with average wellbeing (Slovenia). The uneven wellbeing effect of living in the largest agglomeration in each country raises questions about who benefits in which cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

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18 pages, 2478 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Planning and Markets at Work: Seattle under Growth Management and Economic Pressure

by Hanxue Wei, Lucien C. Wostenholme and John I. Carruthers

Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7634; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13147634 - 08 Jul 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3311

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of Seattle’s redevelopment under Washington State’s urban containment policy and the city’s own urban village plan, with a particular focus on outcomes that arise via a combination of urban planning and land market activity. By comparing the city’s parcel layer between 2010 and 2020, the analysis tracks changes in the form of land consolidation and subdivision, which indicate the intensity of redevelopment activities motivated by the market. It reveals that much redevelopment has happened in single- and multifamily areas, but multifamily areas are more likely to have changed. By implementing an exploratory discrete choice model, the analysis also reveals that urban village policy may reduce redevelopment within Seattle—but one subtype, so-called urban hubs, is more likely to accommodate redevelopment. This leads to further discussion of the goals and effectiveness of this urban village policy. Overall, the findings of this work form a picture of a happy, healthy, and sustainable city that sets a high bar for other cities seeking to achieve the same success. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

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23 pages, 61329 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Empirical Analysis of Mode Choice Decision for Utilitarian and Hedonic Trips: Evidence from Iran

by Enayat Mirzaei and Dominique Mignot

Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6896; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13126896 - 18 Jun 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2083

Abstract

A sizeable body of literature reveals a strong relationship between mode choice and health status. Therefore, society would benefit from travel if transportation and urban planners motivated more individuals to satisfy their desire for travel by active transportation rather than motorized transportation. Despite rich existing literature about the relations between the built environment and travel, we still need to address some research gaps in explaining travel mode choice. As a shortcoming, identifying and measuring the primary motivations for trips, and then incorporating such motivations into travel mode choice modelling, has received less attention in previous research. In this regard the current paper follows two main goals. It aims to differentiate between trips by determining the main utility of travelers and then analyzes the impact of the built environment measurements and subjective attributes on mode choice decision. Using data from a survey of 515 participants who reside in Isfahan, Iran, we conducted a series of binary logistic models to explore how the built environment influences mode choice decisions for different trips, controlling for socio-economics and subjective attributes. The results show that the number of hedonic trips were sizably more than utilitarian trips. It was found that travel mode choice for utilitarian and hedonic trips is influenced by travel habits and subjective attitudes, but the built environment also matters. Specifically, two built environment characteristics, including density and diversity, can substitute walking/cycling for driving for utilitarian trips. In addition, car use for hedonic trips is not influenced by built environment measurements. It seems that the utility and desire of hedonic driving depends on mode of travel. It is concluded that driving and walking/biking for hedonic and utilitarian trips are not single behaviors and differentiating between trips according to their main utility and considering both objective and subjective attributes helps urban and transportation planners prescribe appropriate spatial and nonspatial strategies to encourage walking/biking. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

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13 pages, 1264 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using Individualised HDI Measures for Predicting Educational Performance of Young Students—A Swedish Case Study

by Umut Türk, John Östh, Marina Toger and Karima Kourtit

Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6087; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13116087 - 28 May 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2729

Abstract

HDI is a frequently used quantitative index of human potential and welfare, developed as a comprehensive measure for the cross-sectional and temporal comparison of socioeconomic performance. The HDI is a standardised quantitative estimation of welfare comprising indicators of health, knowledge and standard of living, enabling assessment over countries, regions or time periods, in case of limited data access. The index highlights critical conditions for equity and socioeconomic development outside the group of stakeholders and researchers. The HDI provides a learning potential that may be harnessed to enhance insights into the magnitude of human potential at super-local levels. In this paper we design, implement and test the validity of a super-local variant of HDI in the context of pedagogical performance of young pupils. We compare whether HDI is a good predictor for school grades among all ninth-grade students in Sweden during the year 2014. Our results show that a super-local HDI index is performing equal to or better than the one related to standard measures of human potential, while the index can be generated on individual levels using k-nearest neighbour approaches during the index creation process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

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12 pages, 207 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Health and Happiness in the New Urban Agenda: The Central Role of Public Space

by Michael W. Mehaffy

Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 5891; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13115891 - 24 May 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2271

Abstract

The New Urban Agenda—the global urbanization framework agreement adopted by acclamation by all 193 countries of the United Nations—contains no fewer than eight paragraphs on the importance of public space, three of which outline its role in achieving “human health and well-being”, “attractive and liveable cities”, and “physical and mental health”. However, there is an urgent need to translate these and other quality of life aspirations contained in this landmark document into measurable targets, tools, and strategies to achieve outcomes. This paper examines the core theories that connect health and well-being to public space as reflected in the document, surveying some of the most relevant research in the field. It then analyzes the document text to identify a number of potentially useful indicators. Finally, it proposes a framework for data gathering, assessment, and iterative progress in achieving the stated goals, concluding with an overview of emerging research and practice, and proposed next steps. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

16 pages, 266 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Is the Creative Class a Game Changer in Cities? A Socioeconomic Study on Romania

by Alina Maria Pavelea, Bogdana Neamțu, Peter Nijkamp and Karima Kourtit

Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 5807; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13115807 - 21 May 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2177

Abstract

In the wake of current urbanization trends, Creative Class theory has gained much popularity. According to the theory, in order to achieve sustainable socioeconomic growth and citizens’ well-being, cities have to attract the Creative Class, who prefer places that simultaneously provide amenities such as tolerance, talent, technology, and territorial assets (the four Ts). Although the theory has been tested extensively in the USA and in Western European countries, few attempts have been made to study it in Eastern Europe. As such, this paper tests Creative Class theory in the case of Romania, which is an interesting country for this study, since it has a relatively low level of urbanization and the population is less mobile compared to Western countries. Our results show that talent, technology, and territorial assets are able to significantly explain the geographical concentration of the Creative Class. However, different types of tolerance have different effects on the concentration of the Creative Class. Nevertheless, when we control for conventional socioeconomic welfare variables, the results change. The variable that has the highest effect on welfare patterns is path-dependency, namely, the previous level of regional and urban welfare registered. Thus, this paper reflects the need for both researchers and practitioners to consider the path-dependency trajectories of socioeconomic health and well-being in urban areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

21 pages, 5971 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mobility during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Data-Driven Time-Geographic Analysis of Health-Induced Mobility Changes

by Marina Toger, Karima Kourtit, Peter Nijkamp and John Östh

Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 4027; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13074027 - 05 Apr 2021

Cited by 32 | Viewed by 4954

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the spatial mobility of a major part of the population in many countries. For most people, this was an extremely disruptive shock, resulting in loss of income, social contact and quality of life. However, forced to reduce human physical interaction, most businesses, individuals and households developed new action lines and routines, and were gradually learning to adapt to the new reality. Some of these changes might result in long-term changes in opportunity structures and in spatial preferences for working, employment or residential location choice, and for mobility behavior. In this paper we aim to extend the time-geographic approach to analyzing people’s spatial activities, by focusing on health-related geographical mobility patterns during the pandemic in Sweden. Starting from a micro-approach at individual level and then looking at an aggregate urban scale, we examine the space-time geography during the coronavirus pandemic, using Hägerstrand’s time-geography model. We utilize a massive but (location-wise) fuzzy dataset to analyze aggregate spatiotemporal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic using a contemporary time-geographical approach. First, we address micro-level behavior in time-space to understand the mechanisms of change and to illustrate that a temporal drastic change in human mobility seems to be plausible. Then we analyze the changes in individuals’ mobility by analyzing their activity spaces in aggregate using mobile phone network data records. Clearly, it is too early for predicting long-term spatial changes, but a clear heterogeneity in spatial behavior can already be detected. It seems plausible that the corona pandemic may have long-lasting effects on employment centers, city roles and spatial mobility patterns. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

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21 pages, 343 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Next City: Learning from Cities during COVID-19 to Tackle Climate Change

by Christina Kakderi, Nicos Komninos, Anastasia Panori and Eleni Oikonomaki

Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3158; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13063158 - 13 Mar 2021

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 5894

Abstract

Fundamental principles of modern cities and urban planning are challenged during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the advantages of large city size, high density, mass transport, free use of public space, unrestricted individual mobility in cities. These principles shaped the development of cities and metropolitan areas for more than a century, but currently, there are signs that they have turned from advantage to liability. Cities Public authorities and private organisations responded to the COVID-19 crisis with a variety of policies and business practices. These countermeasures codify a valuable experience and can offer lessons about how cities can tackle another grand challenge, this of climate change. Do the measures taken during the COVID-19 crisis represent a temporal adjustment to the current health crisis? Or do they open new ways towards a new type of urban development more effective in times of environmental and health crises? We address these questions through literature review and three case studies that review policies and practices for the transformation of city ecosystems mostly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: (a) the central business district, (b) the transport ecosystem, and (c) the tourism–hospitality ecosystem. We assess whether the measures implemented in these ecosystems shape new policy and planning models for higher readiness of cities towards grand challenges, and how, based on this experience, cities should be organized to tackle the grand challenge of environmental sustainability and climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

19 pages, 1259 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Long-Term City Innovation Trajectories and Quality of Urban Life

by Alina Irina Popescu

Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10587; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su122410587 - 18 Dec 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2124

Abstract

The main aims of this paper are to examine the technological trajectories of city innovation, to provide a picture of the current state in the most significant technologies, and to propose an explanation for the long-run evolutionary trajectories of technological developments that contribute to the quality of urban life through innovation. In the conceptual part of the paper, we develop the argument that the explanation may rest on the interrelationships between the concept of urban transformative capacity and the theory of path dependence. In the empirical part, we analyze patent data on city-related innovations to examine the trajectories of technological developments over the period 1980–2020. Our main findings at a technological field level (i) confirm the path dependence theory in general and the institutional approach in particular, (ii) acknowledge the rapid transformation towards ‘smart cities’ through the explosive growth of digital technologies, and (iii) confirm the environmental sustainability concerns when developing new technologies. In our study, we focus particularly on the technological sectors (‘clusters’) that provide a significant contribution to quality of urban life, namely environment, public services, and leisure and participation. Our findings provide theoretical, managerial, and policy implications for future research activities on the technological developments that benefit quality of urban life. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

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29 pages, 10957 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multidimensional Facets of Entrepreneurial Resilience during the COVID-19 Crisis through the Lens of the Wealthiest Romanian Counties

by Raluca Ignat and Marius Constantin

Sustainability 2020, 12(23), 10220; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su122310220 - 07 Dec 2020

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4231

Abstract

Sustainable socio-economic development can be looked upon from multiple perspectives, but no longer without considering the roles of urban planning, smart cities and eco-innovative entrepreneurial initiatives. In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, ensuring sustainable socio-economic development is definitely challenging, but not impossible if adopting appropriate measures. This research aimed at analyzing the multidimensional facets of entrepreneurial resilience during times of crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania, while focusing on the effects experienced in the wealthiest areas, specific to urban agglomerations. The research method consisted of constructing a composite indicator comprising appropriate components for assessing the level of wealth and “happiness” of all the Romanian counties. Through the lens of this composite indicator, entrepreneurial resilience was approached in multiple manners according to its diverse forms. Research findings highlight that entrepreneurial resilience tends to be stronger qualitatively and quantitatively in less developed areas than in those that are well developed, mainly due to the lack of entrepreneurial initiatives. Despite being less entrepreneurially resilient, qualitatively, the wealthiest Romanian counties can economically reinvent themselves quicker. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

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Other

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16 pages, 303 KiB

Open AccessEssay

A Post-Corona Perspective for Smart Cities: ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’

by Saskia Sassen and Karima Kourtit

Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9988; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13179988 - 06 Sep 2021

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4459

Abstract

This exploratory essay aims to provide a reflection on the possible implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for urban development and to sketch a plausible picture of the urban future. It serves as an introductory contribution to the Special Issue of this journal on ‘happy and healthy cities’, with particular emphasis on the implications of COVID-19 in pluriform cities. There is no doubt that contemporary cities are growing, and have become more dynamic and crowded. The more people, the bigger the challenges are to manage urban growth and to cope with—and control—density frictions, such as pandemics (e.g., COVID-19). Cities have the task to satisfy the essential needs of many heterogeneous people and to develop appropriate people-based strategies in order to make or keep people happy and healthy. The current COVID-19 disaster is a real urban challenge. The deployment of smart cities’ strategies and the use of digital technology tools in order to capture and provide intelligent internal and external online information and communication opportunities may help cities—in active partnership with their residents (‘smart citizens’ voice’)—to manage shocks and disruptions in the urban system. Clearly, cities are dynamic and adaptive organisms with a high resilience capacity. A key question addressed in this paper is whether urban inhabitants may be inclined to move out of the city due to human health threats, or whether intelligent digital technology tools will be able to overcome the current challenges to the ‘urban way of life’. The paper argues that modern information and communication technology offers a range of opportunities for a healthy city life, so that the COVID-19 pandemic will most likely not lead to a massive demographic outflow from urban agglomerations to less densely populated areas in particular rural areas. Instead, what is called the ‘corona crisis’ may cause just a ripple in the permanent dynamic evolution of cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Happy and Healthy Cities)

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