Feb. 27, 2024
In 2019, Megan Oliver, AICP, wondered how she could put together all the things she had been learning about her own happiness, self-care, and mental health into her practice as a planner. In her research, she came across a new approach — neurourbanism, which links brain science and urban planning in studying the ways that places impact how we feel.
"If we want happy, joyful communities, we need to be deliberate about creating spaces that support well-being for everyone," says Oliver, the founder of Hello Happy Design and a happiness expert, who joined APA Editor in Chief Meghan Stromberg on People Behind the Plans to talk about how planners can tap into this growing knowledge about the brain and the new tools emerging with it. From encouraging social connection to embracing neurodiversity, there are things every planner can do to inspire a little more happiness.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity, but you can listen to the whole conversation at planning.org/podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
STROMBERG: How did you discover this topic?
OLIVER: I wish that I knew when I was younger that happiness researcher was a potential job title. Looking back, I realized that I've kind of been pointed in this direction through the entirety of my personal, academic, and professional life. In undergrad, I learned about the field of environmental psychology, which explores the relationship between human behavior and the environment. But it wasn't until about 10 years into my planning career that I finally had that "aha" moment.
Long story short, by the end of 2019, I was wrestling with a lot of personal losses. I really wanted to find a way to channel what I was feeling — the emotion that I had — constructively into my work. It wasn't until I saw a talk by the positive psychologist Shawn Achor, when a light bulb came on in my mind. I realized I was doing all this personal work to get into a better headspace, but I was still navigating a world that was largely oblivious to my mental health needs and mental health in general. And I felt like this was where I needed to direct my attention.
"Setting out to plan happy cities doesn't require us to throw out the great lessons that we've already learned and start fresh, because we kind of inherently know some of these things, and it's already at the core of our profession."
I set out to launch my own research initiative on International Day of Happiness in 2020, which is on March 20. And, as you probably recall, five days earlier, the entire country shut down in response to the pandemic — and the need to create joyful, healing spaces was amplified.
STROMBERG: The World Happiness Report comes out every March and ranks cities based on their happiness. What does that report tell us, and what does it have to do with planning?
OLIVER: The World Happiness Report is a great conversation starter, because it tugs at our natural competitiveness. And while the topic of national happiness might at first seem airy, it's actually grounded in really rigorous scientific research. It aggregates survey data from 160 countries that are surveyed in the Gallup World Poll. It tracks subjective measures of personal well-being. These factors include gross domestic product, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom, and corruption. Past reports have looked at access to nearby nature and its role in boosting positive moods or the importance of a community's social fabric. As planners, we can look to the World Happiness Report to see what the latest science can tell us about shaping communities to better cultivate connections, to foster greater trust, and to nurture prosocial behaviors.
STROMBERG: How does happiness show up in classic planning literature?
OLIVER: Setting out to plan happy cities doesn't require us to throw out the great lessons that we've already learned and start fresh, because we kind of inherently know some of these things, and it's already at the core of our profession. Every planner I've ever talked to and met explains to me how they've entered the field of planning because they have this drive to make the world a better, often happier place.
In the 1950s and 1960s, folks like Jane Jacobs and Kevin Lynch were making waves in the planning profession. At the same time, neuroscientists were developing a greater understanding of how people respond to their environments, and ideas from this new field of neuroscience have since been merging with other professions to create interdisciplinary areas of study: neuropsychology, neuroleadership, and neuroeconomics, for example.
There's also neurourbanism, a study that really helps to root well-being of places in a robust understanding of what's happening in our brains and our bodies. Scientists and planners are partnering and coming together to measure how our bodies are responding to different environmental cues and stimuli. So, for instance, Ann Sussman and Justin Hollander, PhD, FAICP, have been studying eye gaze, which maps where a person is drawn to look when they're peering at a building or looking down the street. This has implications, of course, for both architectural design and navigation. Now that we're learning more every day about the science of well-being and about what it means to make places happier and more connected, we're just reinforcing that knowledge.
STROMBERG: What role does technology play in this work?
OLIVER: Planners, too, need to be aware of how our use of different technology tools — and, sometimes, our dependency on these tools — is impacting our communities. In our planning efforts, the tools that we employ could make it easier for some people to come and interact with a project, but they could also deepen the digital divide for some groups of people entirely.
As the field of neurourbanism is revealing, technology is not only making our cities and communities smarter, but it's helping to make them healthier too. In my opinion, if we're to use our technology superpowers for good, we first need to think about internet access as a public utility, not just a luxury afforded to some. Then, we can use things like real-time data to improve the experience for transit riders. We can use QR codes and geofencing to provide tailored and interactive experiences for people when they're in public spaces, and we can create and utilize apps that help people to interact with public agencies. Whatever we do, I think the end goal of tech solutions should be facilitating connections between people and place, government and community.
STROMBERG: What does it look like for the planning practice to intentionally consider neurodiversity?
OLIVER: Until recently, most of the world has been designed for neurotypical people without much consideration for the needs of neurodivergent people — for instance, people with autism, people with ADHD, sensory processing disorders, dyspraxia, and mental health conditions. As we are learning more about people's diverse sensory and information-processing needs, planners can improve our practice, from the way that we engage with our coworkers, to the methods that we use to engage with community members, to the ways that we shape our physical communities. Planning for neurodiversity can mean creating easily navigable spaces, being mindful of sensory stimuli, and producing sensory maps of areas based on intensity — like mapping the noisiest streets.
In the past few months, I've seen a lot more consideration for neurodiverse needs in my own backyard. Prince George's County, Maryland, for example — they've been introducing sensory safe environments during their park events. At one event I attended, there was a dimly lit, quiet room. Inside, it offered toys and nooks and things to help people to self-regulate their emotions and behaviors. Meanwhile, playgrounds all over the world are now being extra mindful of the equipment that they're using, the color palettes, the textures, the materials used, to not overstimulate children with neurodiverse needs. Neurodiversity includes many hidden disabilities, and planners have a lot to learn about how our communities can be accessible from a neurodiversity perspective.
STROMBERG: What is the first step planners can take to start building happiness into their work?
OLIVER: Step one, I think, is recognizing and improving our own mental health. I cannot overemphasize this. Every day, we need to be asking ourselves, "What headspace am I in, and in what ways does that impact how I'm showing up for others?" If we need to improve that headspace, we need to go do more of the things that we love, that bring us joy, and that reenergize us. We shouldn't feel guilty about that at all. If we're burned-out, drained, or annoyed, I don't know how we're supposed to help our communities come to solutions to those big, ugly problems.
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