A Missing Link between Urban Mobility and Wellbeing

Abstract

Urban social and built environments collectively contribute to the health and wellbeing of citizens. Despite considerable efforts toward achieving the UN sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to improve the sustainability of the urban built environment and to create a more sustainable urban social environment, both physiological and psychological distress are still among high risk factors in cities. This may in part be due to overlooked effects from the built infrastructure on the wellbeing of citizens. Here, we present an experimental pilot study to examine this condition and explore whether human-infrastructure interactions directly or indirectly contribute to the distress experienced by the citizens. We use wearable physiological sensors to measure, record, and analyze this internal experience in response to various multimodal mobility choices in a neighborhood. Understanding how wellbeing of the citizens is spatiotemporally impacted by their interactions with the built infrastructure is of utmost importance in achieving the UN SDGs and enhancing the quality of urban life.