A Multi-Level Path Analysis of the Relationships between the Momentary Experience Characteristics, Satisfaction with Urban Public Spaces, and Momentary- and Long-Term Subjective Wellbeing.

Weijs-Perrée Weijs-Perrée,Van Dorst Van Dorst,Van Den Berg Van Den Berg,Dane Dane

doi:10.3390/ijerph16193621

Abstract

Previous research has shown that the urban environment could influence people’s behavior and wellbeing. However, little is still known about how the objective and subjective measures of the momentary experience of urban public spaces could contribute to the satisfaction with the urban environment of cities, which eventually could influence the momentary and long-term subjective wellbeing (SWB) of citizens. Therefore, the aim of this research is to gain insight into how momentary experience and satisfaction with the urban public space could contribute to the SWB of citizens, and thereby control for personal, contextual characteristics. Relationships were simultaneously analyzed using a multi-level path analysis approach based on a sample of 1056 momentary experiences of urban public spaces reported by 161 citizens of the urban area Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The results showed that personality and personal characteristics are highly important for explaining long-term SWB and subsequently long-term SWB positively influences momentary SWB (the degree of feeling secure, comfortable, happy and annoyed) together with the momentary satisfaction of urban public space characteristics. In addition, contextual characteristics, such as time/day and distance to facilities are important for explaining people’s momentary SWB. Policy makers and urban planners can use these results when developing policy and designing a healthy, attractive, livable and safe living environment for citizens.

Highlights

City-policy makers are increasingly suggesting that future “smart cities” should be citizen centric, smart and sustainable
The results show a positive effect of long-term subjective wellbeing (SWB) on momentary SWB, which suggests that people who are overall more satisfied with their life and are more positive, rate their momentary SWB higher
With regard to the transportation mode (H4c), having company (H4b) and familiarity with the place (H4d) the results show no significant relationships with momentary SWB

Summary

Introduction

City-policy makers are increasingly suggesting that future “smart cities” should be citizen centric, smart and sustainable. These citizen-centered smart cities should focus both on social- and physical (natural environment, infrastructure, services, and buildings) processes in cities. There already exists a large body of knowledge on the relation between people’s behavior and their environment in the field of environmental psychology [2]. There is an increased scientific interest from the urban planning perspective on how the urban public spaces influences people’s subjective wellbeing (SWB) [3,4,5], as people are the most important actors in urban planning processes [6]. Public Health 2019, 16, 3621; doi:10.3390/ijerph16193621 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion