The Eudemonic City: Architectural Principles for Urban Well-Bring

Abstract

Emerging cross-disciplinary research between psychology, neuroscience and architecture is informing perspectives on urbanism and the built environment. Better understandings of ‘happiness’ and its measurement have given us the ability to determine that urban dwellers are less happy than their rural counterparts, a phenomenon dubbed the Urban-Rural Happiness Gradient. Given the global trend towards urbanism, this thesis asks what aspects of the urban built environment could be contributing to this phenomenon. A survey of findings across multiple fields are amalgamated and organized into a cognitive framework that defines a set of architectural principles for the design of urban public space. A multi-use, acupuncturist-style design proposal along Gottingen St in Halifax, NS tests the implications of these principles at multiple physical and social scales.