Exploring wellbeing in human settlements - A spatial planning perspective

Abstract

This paper explores wellbeing as a central concept in the larger conceptual framework of human settlement planning that combines ongoing debates related to climate change, sustainability, resilience, earth jurisprudence and builds upon similar recent research. As more and more people are living in larger settlements, there is growing a curiosity as well as need to understand what wellbeing is and how it can be understood from the spatial planning perspective. Prominent contemporary global policy documents including the New Urban Agenda (NUA) advocate cities to foster people's wellbeing by incorporating it in planning practices. However, there is a dearth of research that explores wellbeing in human settlements from the spatial planning perspective. This paper presents an interdisciplinary understandings of wellbeing and proposes the wheel of wellbeing in human settlements which consists of four pillars, participation and engagement, access, identity and safety. It also discusses the linkage between wellbeing and sustainable development and argues that by focusing on the wellbeing of people, settlements can become more resilient and sustainable. It further highlights prominent spatial features of wellbeing and the increasing attention that wellbeing is getting in policy formulations. Finally it concludes that even though a universal definition of wellbeing remains arguable, understanding wellbeing in human settlements as a spectrum of attributes and aspects that depend upon their context, can assist in formulating policies that enhance the wellbeing of people and make settlements more sustainable and resilient.