Happiness By Design
Research Vision: We envision a world with, happy and healthy cities which respect the well-being of the citizens.
Happiness by Design is a research group focussing on city design and city planning with an objective to bring out a psychologically healthier communities. We share urban issues which can affect mental health and well being of the people. Our research revolves around the study of various urban design and planning aspects which affects human mind and further their behaviour. We endeavour to expand our research by bridging the gap between designing of cities and mental health by bringing a positive changes through our design and create happiness through designing of the cities.Some of the urban components covered in our research are neighbourhoods, streets, public spaces and outdoor neighbourhood spaces. The research includes various age groups and effect of the environment on each of those. Our research is not just limited to the study but it suggests design solutions as well. We welcome different views from people, city planners, urban designers and planners,architects and stakeholders of our communities as it can give us the insight of the issues on ground.
What We Do
Our cities have a significant impact on our minds. Our behaviour is thoroughly guided by our environment .We as a team of Urban designers and planners are researching on city design and its impact on our mental wellbeing .Our team looks into the details of the design of our environment such as outdoor neighbourhood design features ,public spaces, streets, semi-public spaces , urban greens ,facades etc. Each element of our surrounding space evokes different emotions.We explore the emerging issues of mental wellbeing in the city and come up with a design solution to the problems existing.
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Why Happiness By Design?
Scarce environmental resources, rapid urbanisation, strong consumer culture and the effects of globalisation are influencing our urban environments, to the point where governments have begun to recognise that cities need to be functional in a more holistic sense. It is no longer enough to be just a financial centre; cities also need to have a high degree of quality of life and happiness.
In the current scenario, cities all around the world are hubs for progress, with movement towards the high quality of life and happiness being a globally accepted goal for cities. As well understood in the field, fundamental to progress is the ability to measure and gauge performance. Policy makers, politicians and planners have been conventionally informed of urban progress through Gross Domestic Product (GDP), however, this measure is limited to the economic dimension of urban development. Looking ahead, scarce environmental resources, rapid urbanisation, consumer culture and the effects of globalisation are influencing cities to the point where we need to address the requirement of cities need to be functional in a holistic sense. This film will examine the relationships between happiness, design and planning in the context of urban living. It will question the role of measures of happiness in urban planning, discuss the limitations of measures of happiness, and review certain developments via observation and interviews.
Founder
Dr. Tina Pujara
Tina is a professor of Architecture and Urban Design with specialization in ‘neighborhood design and happiness’ at the Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T) Roorkee in India. Her work focuses specifically on the association of happiness with the built environment. Research-wise she many a times sees herself as a social scientist with a strong design focus and has an inclination towards multidisciplinary research. In parallel to this, she has a strong interest in looking at design processes and the pedagogy of these. Tina collaborates with urban designers and researchers across the globe to help build happier cities. Previously, she has lead ‘Cities and Urban Happiness: The Role of Urban Form’, a research project with collaborators from Germany and Vietnam. Tina has been a recipient of the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship and was an academic guest researching on urban design at ETH Zurich in Switzerland prior to joining IIT Roorkee.