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Environment and Happiness: The Effect of Environment on Happiness HAVE you so far overlooked the effect environment has on your happiness, attaching more importance to more circumstantial factors like income, education, and relationships? Well, as a matter of fact, though seeming comparatively more passive, the environment has a drastic effect on one’s happiness.

In fact it is one’s immediate environment that implicitly defines their moad at every instant of th and consequently de ml PACE 1 org of progress they mak n t, to view and relational succes degree of happiness e of who they are n of the amount cal, educational ctor defining one’s IS indeed the environmental conditions such as temperature, pollution, noise, light, colors, forms, textures etc that by defining one’s level of satisfaction at every moment, lead them to general judgments of their status of happiness in life.

Below the components of environment are categorized into two groups namely indoor environment and outdoor environment, and their effect on the happiness of human members of that environment is studied. Indoor environment is defined generally as that part of environment which is roofed and confined within walls. It can be persona “personal”, like one’s home or a student’s dorm roam, or “public”, like a university or a hairdresser’s salon.

Indoor environment is that part of the environment in which people spend most oftheir times; their comfort, their business, their relationships and much more happens within the indoor environment. Since it is part of a built environment, it has the human thought creating it and therefore whatever effect it has on the people who spend time inside it, is directly ruled by the human brains that form it. Those intellectuals who are in the position to implicitly give direction to he feelings of people are the architects and interior designers, builders and manufacturers. he architect can use components of the indoor environment to direct all the influence towards happiness; the happiness of Individuals which is the happiness of a society! Parts of the indoor environment, positive attention to which can improve conditions of those residing or spending time in it, are temperature, air, humidity, forms, patterns, textures, colors, light, etc. In order to make a pleasant atmosphere, one should pay careful attention to the above factors and make a careful combination of them which fits best the needs of people who use hat place.

In the case Ofa public indoor environment, if, for example, one is in the act of designing the interior of a kindergarten, they should adjust the heat and humidity PAGFarl(Fq designing the interior of a kindergarten, they should adjust the heat and humidity of the place to the standards for kids, detect and remove any possible sources of air pollution, Adjust heights, length and vwdth of spaces and objects to the kids’ size, for example a comparatively lower roof, and smaller rooms are more suitable. They should choose bright and charming colors in textures and patterns fit to a kid’s Iiking, such as strawberry r cat prints on the walls.

Round forms are, for example, more appropriate than forms with Sharp corners. Rooms had better be bright, floors carpeted, and walls decorated. If all these are paid attention to, as to fit the kids’ Iikings, the kids Will be much happier as compared with when they are put in an inappropriate environment. In order to spread the feeling of happiness in a personal indoor environment, for example, there should be more attention paid to memories, emotional ties, and personal liking, whereas in the public indoor environment an average of the public need was the best, not the liking of an individual.

Taking as an example a student’s dorm room, What can lead to her happiness, both in particular and in general are the parts of their room that provide them with feelings of support, tranquility, energy and motivation. If there are forms in the shapes of squares, they feel organized and the order of the room leads to their having an organized mind and prepa PAGF3rl(Fq squares, they feel organized and the arder of the roam leads to their having an organized mind and prepare her state for mental activity.

If there are pictures of family and friends beside the bed, they feel the support that arises from being in a community here one is accepted as they are. A feeling of tranquility can be communicated to the student from shades of green which do not, as does the color blue, evaporate energy; some woodwork, a good heating system and soft surfaces can add to the tranquility. Source of mental energy can be sought in the form of the chair on which the student is going to study, a big, deep, sofa can only remind a student of sleep, and Will take them far away from studying making progress and consequently from self satisfaction and happiness.

Thus whatever the purpose of a built indoor environment, its components can be adapted to the needs and goals of those ho use it and accompany them through their way to success, pleasure, health and on the whole, their happiness. The outdoor environment these days is considered to be mostly the urban environment. That is because the majority of the world’s population live in urban areas. The outdoor environment has direct and indirect impact on happiness.

Some examples of direct impact is green space, traffic, air pollution and noise, and indirect impact is from urban design and accessibility of facilities in town. indirect impact is from urban design and accessibilty of facilities Green spaces such as pa ks and gardens have benefits for both ental and physical health, long absence of exposure to which can lead gradually to frustration and fatigue. We can see that people who spend more time daily in green spaces are generally happier people than those who don’t.

This direct impact can be increased in a way that it results in happiness if there are more parks in the neighboring area of everyone’s house and is people are advlsed to consider spendlng 30 minutes daily exercislng in such environment as necessary to their health and happiness. traffic, with its direct negative impact on residents of any urban area can be removed from their lives through careful anagement, if its harms to happiness of a city are taken seriously.

Traffic’s negative impacts can be the pollution of the air that people in traffic breathe, the noise and also the time they waste in a nervous and exasperated state. The number of cars owned by people and the width of the roads should be proportional as to avoid traffic and such great negative impact on happiness. There are other sources of noise and air pollution which directly influence our mental state and destroy our tranquility, the most significant of which are noises from construction of roads or buildings, and also of demolishing them.

Noise from airports and near b construction of roads or buildings, and also of demolishing them. Noise from airports and near by highways can have long term effects on one’s calmness and tranquility and subsequently lead to a lower degree of happiness in an area where all those sources of noise coincidently exist. Air pollution comes not only from traffic but also from factories which are located at not a far enough distance from the cities. These parts of environment require more effort to be lessened for the aim of increasing happiness of people all around the world.

The indirect impact ofthe environment on our happiness can e explained as those parts of environment which can influence the relation of the people with the direct factors, or they can for example influence one’s self evaluation at every moment and make it positive, resulting in an overall state of contentment and Of the first, which is the indlrect effect of outdoor environment on well being we can speak of the design of the outdoor environment and how it facilitates access to the direct positive outdoor environment effects.

For example, wise road design which facilitates residents of an areais access to places where they can meet other people and have social contact with them, is means of making happiness from relational success attainable. Or, for example, the more spectacularly a park is designed, the more people would be interested to exercis PAGFsrl(Fq example, the more spectacularly a park is designed, the more people would be interested to exercise in them and experience happiness for longer hours every day.

Other means of making people’s relationships easier and easier is by designing safe and comfortable areas with different purposes existing next to each other. For example if in a complex, there are areas for repose, gyms for activities, malls for shopping, restaurants for eatin% etc. people can find Iots and Iots of fun around them to enjoy and take their minds off the tedium of life. Imagine each of the above places were located in one comer of the city.

Old friends who had different things to do wouldn’t be going to one place and meeting- The result therefore would be more isolation and consequently less happiness. ‘f, on the other hand all those facilities were compiled in one multipurpose complex, friends, neighbors, and colleagues would pop into each other, start with small talk and probably go on WIth longer conversations, sharing thoughts, feelings and ideas. In that ase if the environment is pleasant, every time they would leave with an impression of having had one of those happiest ordinary days!

The idea of a multi-purpose complex m’ght sound too modern to the tired staff or student who seeks home everywhere and seems to find it nowhere. To give it more of the feel of being at home, it would be best to go back a sho nowhere. To give it more of the feel of being at home, it would be best to go back a short time to the more casual style, where a café, a shop, a wrn and a grocery store existed on the same street.

If the urban designers could keep that feel, or restore it n the areas where it has disappeared, people would feel less alienated or nostalgic about the past On the whole, the outdoor environment – built or natural – affects happiness in two ways; firstly it can be designed to include many facilities in one place so that people would feel less alienated and have more social contact, and feel happier. Secondly, it can encourage physical activity in nature, when there is enough green space and increase the level of self satisfaction, and happiness.

In concluding words, the positive effect of environment on happiness can be increased through application of certain ecessary changes and remova’ of certain troubles. In an indoor environment, adapting temperature, humidiõy, height, forms, textures, patterns and colors to the needs of the space leads to easier attainment of purposes, with less implicitly affective obstacles, which can in the end lead to financial, educational and social success, which are all the three among the top three definers of happiness in the mind of today’s urban man.

The public indoor environment should be most personal to help form an individual being who would later assess his o PAGF8rl(Fq environment should be most personal to help form an individual eing who would later assess his own success and happiness, while the outdoor personal environment should rather be made in a way which suits the average taste ofthe community to which it belongs.

The outdoor environment, defined as that part of the built or natural environment which is not indoor, has its own influences on the happiness of each person who in general makes the whole population ofthe world. These influences are direct and indirect. The direct being those parts of environment such as air, noise and traffic with which people are in direct contact. An extra amount of noise and pollution can lead to frustration and atigue of the habitants of such overpopulated abades.

Indirect impacts of outdoor environment on happiness are those impacts which modify the direct impact, such as the design of a park to attract people to enjoy fresh air, green space, meet up with other people, do some physical activity and in the end arrive at a state of tranquility. The environment, on the whole, has the ultimate effect on the happiness of people of the world. The more attention each member of the society pays to this effect, the more effort they Will make to turn it positive and for generations, we shall all be living in a happier World, which is our infinite PAGFgrl(Fq