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Publication • 17.05.2023Urban living conditions and their impact on well-being
How do urban environmental and living conditions affect subjective well-being? This question is being investigated in the study "The Effects of Urban Living Conditions on Subjective Well-Being: The Case of German Foreign Service Employees", published by Heiko Rüger, Stefanie Hoherz and colleagues in the journal "Applied Research in Quality of Life". The study is based on a survey, conducted by the BiB in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office.
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In an increasingly urbanized world, understanding the determinants of urban well-being will continue to grow in importance. Although the effects of different indicators of living conditions on well-being have been widely studied individually, little is known about their relative impact when examined jointly. The current study investigates the effect and relative importance of a variety of subjectively and objectively assessed aspects of urban living conditions on the subjective well-being (SWB) of German Foreign Service expatriates.
Access to nature and quality of housing increase well-being
The findings of the analyses show that housing quality and access to nature and green spaces, but also the level of available public goods such as drinking water and air quality play a particularly important role for subjective well-being. The subjectively assessed characteristics consistently show a stronger connection with well-being than the objective characteristics.
Furthermore, it was investigated whether the size of the city or the level of development has an effect on subjective well-being. While the researchers found that living in megacities (with more than 10 million inhabitants) and a low level of development have negative effects on well-being, this can be explained by the differences in living conditions.
"Our analyses provide valuable information for sending organisations on how to improve the subjective well-being of expatriates - for example, by promoting living locations with less noise pollution and more green spaces close to home. In addition, the results are also interesting for urban planners who have the entire population in mind," emphasises PD Dr. Heiko Rüger, co-author of the study. Overall, the results underline the general importance of urban living conditions for well-being and highlight particularly relevant aspects.
Rüger, Heiko; Hoherz, Stefanie; Schneider, Norbert F.; Fliege, Herbert; Bellinger, Maria M.; Wiernik, Brenton M. (2023): The Effects of Urban Living Conditions on Subjective Well-Being: The Case of German Foreign Service Employees. In: Applied Research in Quality of Life.