How do you measure happiness? The Antiplanner isn’t sure, but recent research finds that people living in low-density suburbs are happier than people living in cities. People living in rural areas are happiest of all. The effect isn’t as pronounced for especially intelligent people, the researchers concluded, but it was still there.
One reason why people in some cities may be unhappy is the high cost of living there. The Washington Post asks “why it seems impossible to buy your first home.” The paper doesn’t bother answering the question, but the cities discussed in the article–Portland, Boston, Denver, Seattle, Washington, and several California cities–all are under some form of growth management. All but Boston and Washington have urban-growth boundaries, while Boston and Washington are surrounded by counties that have passed highly restrictive zoning codes prevention new home developments.
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In addition to making housing unaffordable, growth management makes urban areas dense. So, the question is: is it the density that makes people unhappy or the unaffordable housing? One alternative possibility is that unhappy people are attracted to dense, expensive areas, but I don’t see why that would be true. I suspect that density itself is not the problem, but things that are often (but don’t have to be) associated with density, such as a higher cost of living and traffic congestion, are the real keys to urban unhappiness.
Happiest guy I know is probably my friend Jurg. He owns an organic fruit / berry farm about 40km outside Zurich. Works his ass off, makes hardly any money. But he lives in a lovely spot eating healthy food that’s mostly grown on his farm. Great family too. Helps of course that he owns the land — his grandfather bought it in the 1930s. He does complain a bit about the land use restrictions — there’s a couple of things he’d like to do on the property that the village won’t approve. And there’s absolutely no chance he could sell off a parcel to someone wanting to build a house — he’d be pretty wealthy if he could.
Still, he’s a really happy guy.
But, then, so am I. Living in my little flat in town. Riding public transportation. Cycling to work. Walking to the grocery store. Etc. Low-density suburb? Done that. Hated it.
Before the Antiplanner starts citing the urban/rural happiness gradient every other day as evidence of the moral superiority of suburbs it’s worth mentioning that the actual results are a bit murkier than he lets on:
If I have the choice of inner city living or the burbs, I prefer low density burbs. I’m temporarily living in the city again with a small yard and little or no parking , no privacy in my yard because everything is so tightly packed together and my neighbors 2 story buildings look into my yard. Neighbors are too close and in the summer, I know way to much what is going on next door by way of TV, radio and talking etc.
I can walk a block or so for groceries and restaurants, but still need to drive for the cheap prices and more choices, in the big box stores and restaurants, I prefer over the ones nearby. I also would like a big 4 car garage for projects on cars, woodworking and many other projects. That would be bigger than my entire back yard.
Everyone has different needs for happiness.
People living in rural areas are happiest of all.”
I too would prefer to live in a rural area; that’s my stated preference at least. My revealed preference is that I prefer having a job and enough money to take vacations and to spend on experiences, and finding decent-paying jobs for both my spouse and I in a rural area has proven to be impossible.
“One reason why people in some cities may be unhappy is the high cost of living there. …So, the question is: is it the density that makes people unhappy or the unaffordable housing?”
In my opinion, it ‘s both the unaffordable housing and the density. While I found a house for rent at below market value, it’s run down; for the same money in another city, I could rent a very nice house.
Even though I’m extremely lucky to rent a SFH and don’t have to deal with hearing neighbors through the walls, ceilings, and floors, I still have to deal with traffic, overflights, ambient city noise, and the neighbor letting her dog shit in my front yard and not picking it up.
Ample space is necessary for mental health and healthy relations with other humans.
Consider age too. Youth probably prefer being around other single youth. Families prefer other families but some buffer from society members not prioritizing child-rearing. Those finished with child rearing or finished with a professional life may prefer solitude. Then there are personality types, the introverts may want the country, the extroverts to live with as many people as possible in the city.
It’s interesting to see that rural and small town inhabitants are happier than suburbanites. It’s a good thing that cities like Portland have enacted urban growth boundaries so that rural areas aren’t paved over by suburbs where people are less happy.
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Less than 3% of Oregon is built on including cities leaving, more than 97% of Oregon open space. I doubt the rural areas are in any threat of being paved over.
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Before the Antiplanner starts citing the urban/rural happiness gradient every other day as evidence of the moral superiority of suburbs it’s worth mentioning that the actual results are a bit murkier than he lets on:
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Are we to be surprised the Eric Jaffe invokes “it’s more complicated” on something that doesn’t align with his world view?
We have been told so long how bad sprawl is, I think it is important to site that many people prefer living in sprawl or low density areas, while others prefer inner city and other choices. One is not better than the other, but we should be allowed the choice that makes us happy.