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Handbook of Community Well-Being Research pp 313–337Cite as

Building Well-Being: Neighbourhood Flourishing and Approaches for Participatory Urban Design Intervention

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Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ((IHQL))

Abstract

The characterisation of individual Subjective Well-being (SWB) is increasingly robust, whereas social SWB at neighbourhood-level is not. We propose a preliminary framework for neighbourhood flourishing: strong SWB among neighbourhood residents. Urban design may positively affect neighbourhood flourishing. We demonstrate the utility of the framework in designing neighbourhoods via participatory case studies, using two approaches: Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and Extreme and Participatory Citizen Science (EPaCS). We show promising links between residents’ participation, urban design factors and neighbourhood flourishing outcomes. Our cases reveal resources, problems, and solutions not necessarily uncovered by technical ‘experts’, increasing the likelihood of supporting neighbourhood flourishing. We conclude that EPaCS and HIA have potential for the application of our framework. Neighbourhood flourishing may be a key yardstick by which urban environments and participatory processes should be judged. We recommend that the framework and its application be developed further via collaboration between academics, policy-makers, practitioners and communities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interview with Andrew Simmons, Urban Design Consultant, Washington DC, April 2015.

  2. 2.

    HIAs also examine the distribution of impacts and potential health inequalities.

  3. 3.

    As agreed by a discussion of leading international HIA practitioners on the online practitioner discussion list, HIANET, hosted by jiscmail.ac.uk (5–6 March 2015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cambridge Well-Being Institute, Cambridge, UK

    Jamie Anderson

  2. Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Cathy Baldwin

  3. Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK

    Cathy Baldwin

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  1. Jamie Anderson
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  2. Cathy Baldwin
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Correspondence to Cathy Baldwin .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Honors College and Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

    Rhonda Phillips

  2. School of Environment, Education and Development, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Cecilia Wong

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Anderson, J., Baldwin, C. (2017). Building Well-Being: Neighbourhood Flourishing and Approaches for Participatory Urban Design Intervention. In: Phillips, R., Wong, C. (eds) Handbook of Community Well-Being Research. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0878-2_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0878-2_17

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