The Importance of the Neighbourhood Environment and Social Capital for Happiness in a Vulnerable District: The Case of the Pajarillos District in Spain

Noelia Somarriba Arechavala (), Pilar Zarzosa Espina () and Ana Teresa López Pastor ()
Additional contact information
Noelia Somarriba Arechavala: University of Valladolid
Pilar Zarzosa Espina: University of Valladolid
Ana Teresa López Pastor: University of Valladolid

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2022, vol. 23, issue 5, No 9, 1965 pages

Abstract: Abstract The characteristics of neighbourhoods, their physical and social environment, have been shown to have profound effects on the individual well-being and happiness of their residents. In an effort to help design policies and action plans that enhance well-being in the district, our study seeks to understand how happiness levels among residents in a low-income neighbourhood in Spain are linked to their socio-demographic traits, individual health, relationships with the area, and community, as well as with the physical environment of the neighbourhood. The study is part of a project called "Educa-Pajarillos Sostenible". The project aims to improve the quality of life of the area’s citizens by carrying out a series of actions. One of these actions is an eco-social map of happiness, which involves designing and applying a survey and which serves as a source of analysis for our research. An Ordered Choice Logit econometric model was applied to measure the effect of the happiness of demographic, neighbourhood environment, social capital, and socio-demographic characteristics. Results confirm the importance of variables related to the neighbourhood’s social capital and physical environment as key elements in local residents’ happiness. The findings also indicate that traditional indicators used to measure well-being, such as education or difficulty making ends meet, are not significant.

Keywords: Neighbourhood; Happiness; Subjective wellbeing; Econometric models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-021-00479-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:jhappi:v:23:y:2022:i:5:d:10.1007_s10902-021-00479-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... fe/journal/10902/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10902-021-00479-x

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Happiness Studies is currently edited by Antonella Delle Fave

More articles in Journal of Happiness Studies from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().