A study of the impact of the urban built environment on residents' well-being

Abstract

With the acceleration of urbanisation, the emergence of urban problems and the increase of urban density have made urban planning constantly facing problems and challenges, and exploring the relationship between the urban built environment and residents' subjective sense of well-being has become a hot topic. In the context of China's efforts to promote the transformation of cities into high-quality development, it is important to improve the built environment of cities in order to achieve the continuous improvement of residents' life satisfaction and happiness. This paper takes 21 provincial administrative regions in mainland China as the study area, and uses three indicators: density of resident population, green space per capita, and POI (Point of Interests) density within 15-minute walking distance of residential areas as representative factors of the urban built environment. Residents' subjective well-being data from the 2021 China General Social Survey (CGSS) were used to measure residents' well-being in provincial administrative regions. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analyses were used to identify the characteristics of the urban built environment in the study area in 2021, and to systematically analyse the mechanisms by which urban built environment factors affect residents' happiness. In terms of the characteristics of the built environment in cities in 2021, it was found that economically developed and densely populated areas such as Beijing and Jiangsu Province have relatively low green space per capita. The relatively sparsely populated Qinghai Province and Nei Mongol have larger green space per capita. The eastern coastal areas and some economically developed inland provinces have a higher density of facilities, which may have a positive effect on enhancing residents' sense of well-being. The results of multivariate linear regression illustrate that resident population density has a significant positive effect on residents' well-being, suggesting that good public facilities and services in areas with high population density enhance residents' socialisation opportunities and convenience of life, thus improving well-being. On the contrary, green space per capita has a significant negative effect on residents' well-being, a result that may be related to the actual utilisation and quality of urban green space, which fails to effectively enhance residents' well-being despite the increase in green space. The relationship between POI density and residents' well-being is not significant, suggesting that POI density may not be able to directly reflect the residents' demand for and satisfaction with the neighbourhood amenities. The results of the study provide an empirical basis for urban planning. To this end, this paper suggests that public facilities and services should be optimised in high-density areas, and that the rationality of their layout and the optimisation of their use functions need to be paid attention to while increasing the area of green space. In addition, the study also points out that the specific effects of POI on well-being for different types of facilities can be further explored in the future, in order to provide a more scientific and precise basis for urban planning and policy making.