Scott Bernstein joins in the Happiness Index conversation, starting with references to the Anatomy of Melancholy.
"On Saturday at a used bookstore, I picked up Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, written in 1620. While mostly focused on what we'd call the psychology of melancholy and happiness, it's full of wonderful homilies on diet, exercise, and the 'digression of air.'"
Scott Bernstein, President and CEO of Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), quotes from Burton. While poetic, it is also still pertinent to the rural-to-urban spectrum of happiness-inducing behaviors today. Bernstein goes on with more up to date journals and studies, throwing in a little new analysis of his own about why people are migrating in significant numbers to walkable metro neighborhoods.
"People could argue that sunbelt outcomes are biased, because things are more dynamic in fast-growing places. The data isn't just an artifact of newer sunbelt / sunburnt cities, but similar outcomes are seen in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston. These are points of satisfaction because people value their properties and are holding onto them."
"You can't argue that all the wealthy people are moving to the cool places. Instead, we're finding that walkable, livable, happiness-generating places are increasing in value, and in turn enriching those who live there, monetarily and otherwise."
Thanks to Hazel Borys
FULL STORY: Urban Happiness Index, Expanded
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.