Flickr photo by seq
We’ve reported earlier on the UK government’s recent decision to measure the happiness of its citizens. The latest government to do so is neighboring Somerville, MA. Somerville, which went by the nickname of “Slummerville” in the 1980s for cheap and affordable 3-decker housing and the highest residential concentration of any community in New England, has recently become more hip and gentrified thanks to the revitalization of places like Inman Square and Davis Square.
Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone is a recent graduate of the mid-career program Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and a visionary who has worked with HKS on many other local government measurement projects (SomerStat). The NY Times quotes Curtatone as saying that the project was a “no-brainer” and he noted that “cities keep careful track of their finances, but a bond rating doesn’t tell us how people feel or why they want to raise a family here or relocate a business here.”
The city is collaborating with happiness expert Dan Gilbert at Harvard and ultimately hopes to use these data to see how things like the extension of the subway green line affect happiness or how Somerville’s happiness compares with neighboring towns.
The voluntary survey asks such questions like:
- How happy do you feel right now? (1-10 scale)How satisfied are you with your life in general? (1-10 scale)
In general, how similar are you to other people you know? (1-10 scale)
When making decisions, are you more likely to seek advice or decide for yourself? (1-10 scale) - Taking everything into account, how satisfied are you with Somerville as a place to live? (1-10 scale)
The survey also asks residents to rate Somerville’s “beauty or physical setting” [likely fairly low for anyone who has spent time in Somerville], “availability of affordable housing”, quality of local public schools, and effectiveness of local police.
Researchers hope to correlate ratings of well-being, demographics, satisfaction with Somerville amenities, and proximity to various parts of Somerville to unpack what makes residents more or less satisfied.
As the NY Times observes: “Monitoring the citizenry’s happiness has been advocated by prominent psychologists and economists, but not without debate over how to do it and whether happiness is even the right thing for politicians to be promoting. The pursuit of happiness may be an inalienable right, but that is not the same as reporting blissful feelings on a questionnaire. ”
See “How Happy Are You? A Census Wants to Know” (NY Times, 4/30/11 by John Tierney)
See Somerville’s voluntary “Wellbeing and Community Survey”
See “Somerville, Mass., aims to boost happiness. Can it?” (CS Monitor, 4/4/11 by Mary Helen Miller)
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