Chennai, what makes you happy? Homes, footpaths boost happiness as much as friends in the city, says study

Chennai: For most Chennai residents, happiness lies in a large cool home with reliable electricity. But that’s only on the inside. Outdoors, Chennaiites believe happiness is all about cleaner air, quieter surroundings and a footpath that is walkable.A new study suggests that everyday comforts may be helping Chennai residents report higher levels of life satisfaction and happiness than those recorded in India as a whole and even slightly higher than scores reported for the United States and United Kingdom.The findings come from a study published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology that surveyed 2,400 residents across urban, suburban and peri-urban parts of the Chennai metropolitan area.

It found urban infrastructure, from housing and electricity to sidewalks and parks, plays as important a role in well-being as education, family relationships and social connections.Researchers measured well-being using two indicators: life satisfaction and day-to-day happiness. Chennai residents recorded a life satisfaction score of 7.13 out of 10 and a happiness score of 7.62. In comparison, India’s national life satisfaction score was 4.05 in the World Happiness Report 2024, while life satisfaction scores reported for the United States and the United Kingdom were 6.72 and 6.75 respectively.

The UK’s happiness score was 7.45.“Chennai metro, which is among the most developed urban area in India, has relatively high subjective well-being comparable to other cities in the US and the UK, a finding that future studies should examine across additional Indian cities,” says Anu Ramaswami, corresponding author of the study by Urban Nexus Lab in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Princeton University, US.“Household and neighbourhood infrastructure (home size, cooling, sidewalks) can be as influential as social and personal variables,” she writes.Between May and Aug 2024, researchers collected responses from residents across different age, income and educational groups, asking them to rate their satisfaction with more than 40 physical, social and environmental attributes.Among household factors, larger home size, reliable electricity supply and access to cooling systems were strongly associated with higher well-being.

At the neighbourhood level, sidewalks, bicycle and walking trails, and parks and playgrounds emerged as important contributors.The influence of these amenities rivalled that of factors traditionally associated with happiness such as strong family relationships, more friends, higher education levels and access to financial institutions. Though they were linked to greater life satisfaction, household and neighbourhood infrastructure were found to be just as important.Using statistical techniques that compared residents with similar demographic characteristics, researchers estimated that better household infrastructure, neighbourhood amenities and environmental quality could improve well-being scores by about one point on a 10-point scale. Among residents earning less than Rs25,000 a month, better household infrastructure could improve well-being by up to two points.Kirti Das, first author of the study, says “home size, electricity, heating/cooling, water supply, internet/phone, air quality, and noise” as priority attributes for enhancing well-being.With India expected to add more than 400 million urban residents by 2050, the authors say the findings could help guide investments in housing, mobility, basic services and neighbourhood infrastructure, while the survey framework developed in Chennai could be applied to cities worldwide.