Happy City

it's odd to read a book written in 2013 about straightforward answers to increasing overall citizen happiness through design.

it seems either those answers weren't as straight forward or they were off the mark.

on the other hand, change of this scale is slow. it might build up and increase momentum over time.

with that said, inequality and an imbalance of power do stand in the way, so I could believe design is ready to unlock more citizen happiness, but our society hasn't figured out how to give the right people the keys.

I enjoyed the case studies and the examples of change in various cities throughout the world.

the journey remains difficult but worthwhile. I hope many of us can achieve increased happiness along the way.

I think the design suggestions may still apply in today's world, but they likely need updating and personalization to match a cities culture, history and problems.

but with a commitment to being flexible and understanding the goal isn't about getting to an end state but building a city that is constantly rebuilding itself may be good enough!