The Effects of Objective and Perceived Neighborhood Amenities on Youths’ Wellbeing: The Case of the City of Al Ain, UAE

Marwan Elmubarak (), Naeema AlHosani, Mohamed Yagoub and Amar Khamis
Additional contact information
Marwan Elmubarak: Department of Geography & Urban Sustainability, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates
Naeema AlHosani: Department of Geography & Urban Sustainability, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates
Mohamed Yagoub: Department of Geography & Urban Sustainability, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates
Amar Khamis: Hamdan Bin Mohammed College of Dental Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai P.O. Box 505055, United Arab Emirates

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: The last 20 years have witnessed steady research originating in Western societies on the possible correlation between spatial qualities of places and individual wellbeing. Cultural and place-specific factors, however, may limit generalizability to different settings. This study explored whether the spatial qualities of neighborhoods in the city of Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), influence the wellbeing of the city’s youths. A questionnaire was developed based on a conceptual framework (CP) delineating wellbeing and its relationship to spatial qualities. The CP was drawn from the literature on wellbeing, positive psychology, and urban design. Results indicated that the city of Al Ain youths regard specific neighborhood amenities and a few neighborhood spatial qualities relatively highly but generally tend to respond neutrally to most other features. High use of individual cars may have given the youths other options to form communities of interest beyond their neighborhoods. Recommendations to enhance youths’ engagement at the neighborhood level were discussed together with suggestions for future research. The study has implications for both policy and planning decisions, particularly as several government initiatives and programs continue to be oriented toward youth empowerment with the objective of enhancing their effectiveness and wellbeing.

Keywords: neighborhood; amenities; spatial characteristics; wellbeing; youths (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3550/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3550/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3550-:d:1068960

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().