Wellbeing

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

Wellbeing related to infrastructure can be understood as the psychological benefits (e.g. happiness) that are offered as a result of social-infrastructure-environment interactions. It represents more than just the ability to avoid risk and hazard, and places greater emphasis on being well, feeling happy, and the ability to thrive and flourish. Wellbeing benefits may derive, for example, from urban place making or the positive effects of parks and green spaces. Social structures, family networks, and friend circles often mediate and modulate infrastructure-related wellbeing factors.

The network’s research efforts on wellbeing are focused on combining real time tracking of wellbeing linked with various infrastructure-social-environment interaction events (e.g. walking, biking, riding transit, engaging in urban farming, or during extreme heat/cold or flood events). This offers a path-breaking approach to assess the interactions among people, infrastructures and the environment as they shape health, well-being and livability. It also offers a path for understanding how best to relate wellbeing to urban design, infrastructure decision making, and the natural environment.

OUR PRODUCTS

Understanding subjective well-being: perspectives from psychology and public health

  • November 2020
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Multiple

Das, K. V., Jones-Harrell, C., Fan, Y., Ramaswami, A., Orlove, B., & Botchwey, N. (2020). Understanding subjective well-being: perspectives from psychology and public health. Public Health Reviews , 41 (25). … Read more

Urban home gardening is associated with happiness

  • November 2020
  • Journal Brief
  • Author: Multiple

This study measured people’s emotional well-being (EWB) while engaged in urban household gardening. The researchers directly measured EWB of home gardeners and compared their reported emotional affect across different activities, … Read more

Connecting Air Quality with Emotional Well-Being and Neighborhood Infrastructure in a US City

  • May 2020
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Multiple

Lal, R., Das, K., Fan, Y., Barkjohn, K., Botchwey, N., Ramaswami, A., & Russell, A.G. (2020). Connecting Air Quality with Emotional Well-Being and Neighborhood Infrastructure in a US City. Environmental … Read more

Is gardening associated with greater happiness of urban residents?

  • February 2020
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Multiple

Ambrose, G., Das, K. Fan, Y., & A. Ramaswami (2020). Is gardening associated with greater happiness of urban residents? A multi-activity, dynamic assessment in the Twin-Cities region, USA. Landscape and … Read more

Using Twitter to Measure Wellbeing in Parks and Urban Green Space

  • August 2019
  • Journal Brief
  • Author: Richard Plunz et al.

This brief reports findings from a study offering an exploration of how social media, and in particular twitter, can be used to evaluate social behavior in public spaces. It tries … Read more

Twitter sentiment in New York City parks as measure of well-being

  • May 2019
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Richard Plunz et al.

Plunz, R.A., Zhou, Y., Vinitimilla, M.I.C., Mckeown, K., Yu, T., Uguccioni, L., Sutto, M.P. (2019). Twitter sentiment in New York City parks as measure of well-being. Landscape and Urban Planning, … Read more

Understanding the Social Benefits of Community Gardens in East Harlem

  • April 2019
  • Journal Brief
  • Author: Nada Petrovic, Troy Simpson, Ben Orlove, and Bryan Dowd-Uribe

This study is motivated by an interest in understanding whether an ecosystem services perspective on community gardens (heat island mitigation, food cultivation, etc.) can be combined with attention to the … Read more

Exploring the importance of transportation infrastructure and accessibility to satisfaction with urban and suburban neighborhoods: An application of gradient boosting decision trees

  • April 2019
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Jason Cao and Xinyi Wu

Cao, J. & X. Wu. (2019). Exploring the importance of transportation infrastructure and accessibility to satisfaction with urban and suburban neighborhoods: An application of gradient boosting decision trees. Transportation Findings, … Read more

Understanding Trip Happiness using Smartphone-Based Data: The Effects of Trip- and Person-Level Characteristics

  • February 2019
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Yingling Fan, Rowland Brown, Kirti Das, Julian Wolfson

Fan, Y., Brown, R., Das, K., & J. Wolfson. (2019). Understanding Trip Happiness using Smartphone-Based Data: The Effects of Trip- and Person-Level Characteristics. Transport Findings, 10.32866/7124. ABSTRACT: Understanding trip happiness—a … Read more

Environmental and Social Dimensions of Community Gardens in East Harlem

  • January 2019
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Nada Petrovic, Troy Simpson, Ben Orlove, and Bryan Dowd-Uribe

Petrovic, N., Simpson, T., Orlove, B., & Dowd-Uribe, B. (2019). Environmental and social dimensions of community gardens in East Harlem. Landscape and Urban Planning, 183(2019), 36-49. ABSTRACT: Community gardens are popular in … Read more

Linked Response of Aerosol Acidity and Ammonia to SO2 and NOx Emissions Reductions in the United States

  • July 2018
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Mutiple

Lawal, A.S., Servadio, J.L., Davis, T., Ramaswami, A., Botchwey, N., & Russell, A.G. (2018). Linked Response of Aerosol Acidity and Ammonia to SO2 and NOx Emissions Reductions in the United … Read more

Examining Built Environmental Correlates of Neighborhood Satisfaction

  • March 2018
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Multiple

Cao, X., Wu., X., & Y. Yuan. (2018). Examining Built Environmental Correlates of Neighborhood Satisfaction: A Focus on Analysis Approaches. Journal of Planning Literature, 33(4), 419-432. ABSTRACT: Many studies explore … Read more

Happy Cities: The Role of Transportation

  • November 2017
  • Video
  • Author: Yingling Fan

Increasing psychology research suggests that emotional well-being contributes to human development in significant ways. Happier people often are more productive and creative, have better family and social relationships, and in … Read more

Comparing importance-performance analysis and three-factor theory in assessing rider satisfaction with transit

  • June 2017
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Multiple

Cao, J., & Cao, X. (2017). “Comparing importance-performance analysis and three-factor theory in assessing rider satisfaction with transit.” Journal of Transport and Land Use, 10(1), 837-854. ABSTRACT: Transit ridership depends on its … Read more

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