Citizen-Centric Planning-With an emphasis on Mental Wellbeing

Our research group ‘Happiness by Design’ mostly looks on how cities and mental wellbeing are linked?  Happiness conceivably can be defined as the people’s overall wellbeing and entire satisfaction of life. While many cities are taking a human-centric approach to urban planning, we propose this new idea of Happiness and Mental Wellbeing.  Designing a city means designing for the well-being of the people who live there. The people centric design fundamentally aims to keep people happier and healthier. We prompt the planners and city officials that as Architects and Urban Designers that there is something that we can do to improve the wellbeing of citizens through Design.  Bhutan is the country which always speaks about Happiness, but even Bhutan has not been the subject of Happiness in relation to Design. Mental Health is a significant aspect of Sustainable Development Goal III (2015) – ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’. So it’s the responsibility of City Makers to ensure the wellbeing of their citizens; which has to be reinforced through Design.