Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design (52 page)

The online social environment can warp our well-being in surprising ways. One new insight is that maxing out on Facebook friends can actually make you unhappy. The phenomenon has its roots in the evolutionary happiness function: that never-ending compulsion to compare ourselves to other people. The problem, explains study author Dilney Goncalves, a professor at IE Business School in Madrid, is that people typically post Facebook updates that contain good news and achievements, creating the false impression of a world of super-successful people. So the more Facebook friends you have, the more time you spend checking their skewed status updates, and the worse you feel about your own life. (The tipping point? Three hundred and fifty-four Facebook friends.)

See Valenzuela, Sebastián, Namsu Park, and Kerk F. Kee, “Is There Social Capital in a Social Network Site?: Facebook Use and College Students’ Life Satisfaction, Trust, and Participation,”
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
, 2009: 875–901; Dunbar, R.,
Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996); Krotoski, Aleks, “Robin Dunbar: We Can Only Ever Have 150 Friends at Most…”
The Guardian
, March 14, 2010,
www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/mar/14/my-bright-idea-robin-dunbar
(accessed January 7, 2011); Darius, K. S., “A Comparison of Offline and Online Friendship Qualities at Different Stages of Relationship Development,”
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
, 2004: 305–20; Pappas, Stephanie, “Facebook with Care: Social Networking Site Can Hurt Self-Esteem,”
LiveScience
, February 6, 2012,
www.livescience.com/18324-facebook-depression-social-comparison.html
(accessed March 3, 2012); Mesch, Gustavo S., and Ilan Talmud, “Similarity and the Quality of Online and Offline Social Relationships Among Adolescents in Israel,”
Journal of Research on Adolescence
, 2007: 455–65.

This concern with touch
: Li, Shan. “‘Emotional’ Phones Simulate Hand Holding, Breathing and Kissing,”
Los Angeles Times
, September 8, 2011,
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/09/phone-breathing-kissing.html
(accessed April 30, 2013).

pictures of various streetscapes
: O’Brien, Daniel T., and David S. Wilson, “Community Perception: The Ability to Assess the Safety of Unfamiliar Neighborhoods and Respond Adaptively,”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, 2011: 606–20.

temperature of our hands
: Kang, Y., L. Williams, M. Clark, J. Gray, and J. Bargh, “Physical Temperature Effects on Trust Behavior: The Role of the Insula,”
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
, 2011: 507–15, Steinmetz, J., and T. Mussweiler, “Breaking the Ice: How Physical Warmth Shapes Social Comparison Consequences,”
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
, 2011: 1025–1028.

Observing shoppers
: Sanna, L. J., E. C. Chang, P. M. Miceli, and K. B. Lundberg, “Rising Up to Higher Virtues: Experiencing Elevated Physical Height Uplifts Prosocial Actions,”
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
, 2011: 472–76. (Since this paper’s publication, some researchers have called into question the validity of the authors’ data.)

mental map
: Sternberg, Esther,
Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-Being
(Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009).

anti-cosmopolitan tribalism
: de Dreu, Carsten, “Social Value Orientation Moderates Ingroup Love but Not Outgroup Hate in Competitive Intergroup Conflict,”
Group Processes Intergroup Relations
, 2010: 701–13.

Esther Sternberg
: Sternberg’s
Healing Spaces
is a thorough and accessible exploration of the science of place and well-being.

Disney and his designers
: Haas, Charlie, “Disneyland Is Good for You,”
New York
, December 1978: 13–20.

effect of aesthetics
: Semenza, Jan, “Building Healthy Cities: A Focus on Interventions,” in
Handbook of Urban Health: Populations, Methods, and Practice
, eds. Sandro Galea and David Vlahov (New York: Springer, 2005), 459–78.

in front of lively facades
: Gehl, Jan, Lotte Johansen, and Reigstad Solvejg, “Close Encounters with Buildings,”
Urban Design International
, 2006: 29–47.

on their main shopping streets
: From
Improving Urban Spaces
(Dansk Byplanlaboratorium), a study of the quality of the main streets in practically all Danish cities of any reasonable size (ninety-one cities). Published by the Danish Town Planning Laboratory.

on the Upper West Side
: New York City Department of City Planning. “Special Enhanced Commercial District Upper West Side Neighborhood Retail Streets—Approved!”
NYC.gov
, June 28, 2012,
www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/uws/index.shtml
(accessed October 11, 2012); Berger, Joseph, “Retail Limits in Plan for the Upper West Side,”
New York Times.
February 2, 2012,
www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/nyregion/zoning-proposal-on-upper-west-side-could-reshape-commerce.html
(accessed March 3, 2012).

Studies of seniors
: Brown, S. C., C. A. Mason, T. Perrino, J. L. Lombard, F. Martinez, E. Plater-Zyberk, A.R. Spokane, and J. Szapocznik, “Built Environment and Physical Functioning in Hispanic Elders: The Role of ‘Eyes on the Street,’”
Environmental Health Perspectives
, 2008: 1300–1307; Richard, L., L. Gauvin, C. Gosselin, and S. Laforest, “Staying Connected: Neighbourhood Correlates of Social Participation Among Older Adults Living in an Urban Environment in Montreal, Quebec,”
Health Promotion International
, 2008: 46–57.

bonus plazas
: Smithsimon, Gregory, “Dispersing the Crowd: Bonus Plazas and the Creation of Public Space,” in
The Beach Beneath the Streets: Exclusion, Control, and Play in Public Space
by Benjamin Shepard and Gregory Smithsimon (New York: SUNY Press, 2011).

2009 World Championship hundred-meter sprint
: Hamilton-Baillie, B., “Urban Design: Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?”
Journal of Urban Technology
, 2004: 43–62.

influenced by noise
: Jha, Alok, “Noise of Modern Life Blamed for Thousands of Heart Deaths,”
The Guardian
, August 22, 2007,
www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/aug/23/sciencenews.uknews
(accessed March 3, 2012).

field experiments
: Cohen, S., and S. Spacapan, “The Social Psychology of Noise,” in
Noise and Society
, ed. D. M. Jones and A. J. Chapman (Chichester, U.K.: Wiley, 1984): 221–45.

“The full experience”
: Manville, Michael, and Donald Shoup, “People, Parking, and Cities,”
Access
, 2004,
http://shoup.bol.ucla.edu/People,Parking,Cities.pdf
(accessed March 3, 2012).

8. Mobilicities I: How Moving Feels, and Why It Does Not Feel Better

Robert Burton
: Burton, Robert,
The Anatomy of Melancholy
, ed. Jackson Holbrook (London: Rowman and Littlefield, 1975), 71.

Nearly nine in ten American commuters
: U.S. Census Bureau, “2010 American Community Survey Highlights,”
www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/pdf/acs_2010_highlights.pdf
(accessed March 3, 2012).

Three-quarters of Canadians
: Statistics Canada, “Commuting Patterns and Places of Work of Canadians, 2006 Census,” 2008, Ottawa.

two-thirds of Brits
: Department for Transport, “National Travel Survey, Table NTS0409, Average Number of Trips by Purpose and Main Mode: Great Britain, 2009,” 2010.

drivers report feeling
: Gatersleben, B., and D. Uzzell, “Affective Appraisals of the Daily Commute: Comparing Perceptions of Drivers, Cyclists, Walkers, and Users of Public Transport,”
Environment and Behavior
, 2007: 416–31.

in their fine cars
: Ory, David T., and Patricia L. Mokhtarian, “When Is Getting There Half the Fun? Modeling the Liking for Travel,”
Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
, 2005: 97–123.

“The endocrinological response”
: Harris, Misty, “Hot Cars Make Men More Manly, Study Shows,”
Vancouver Sun Health Blog,
not dated,
www.vancouversun.com/health/cars+make+more+manly+study+shows/1870063/story.html
(accessed April 30, 2013).

love
their cars
: Langer, Gary, “Poll: Traffic in the United States. A Look Under the Hood of a Nation on Wheels,”
ABC News
, February 13, 2005,
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Traffic/story?id=485098&page=1
(accessed June 24, 2010).

an unhappy group
: Langer, “Traffic in the United States.”

stress hormones
: Evans, G., and S. Carrere, “Traffic Congestion, Perceived Control, and Psychophysiological Stress Among Urban Bus Drivers,”
Journal of Applied Psychology
, 1991: 658–63.

fight-or-flight juices
: White, S. M., and J. Rotton, “Type of Commute, Behavioral Aftereffects, and Cardiovascular Activity: A Field Experiment,”
Environment and Behavior
, 1998: 763–80.

immune system will be compromised
: McEwen, B. S., “Allostasis and Allostatic Load: Implications for Neuropsychopharmacology,”
Neuropsychopharmacology
, 2000: 108–24.

Chronic road rage
: Fenske, Mark, “Road Rage Stressing You Out? Crank the Tunes,”
The Globe and Mail
, October 6, 2010,
www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/conditions/road-rage-stressing-you-out-crank-the-tunes/article1322066
(accessed January 14, 2011).

urban bus drivers
: Aronsson, G., and A. Rissler, “Psychophysiological Stress Reactions in Female and Male Urban Bus Drivers,”
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology
, 1998: 122–29.

heart attack patients
: Larson, John, and Carol Rodriguez,
Road Rage to Road Wise: A Simple Step-by-Step Program to Help You Understand and Curb Road Rage in Yourself and Others
(New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 1999).

Commuters’ hearts
: Lewis, David. “Commuting Really Is Bad for Your Health,”
Hewlett Packard Newsroom Home
, Hewlett Packard, November 1, 2004,
http://h41131.www4.hp.com/uk/en/press/Commuting_Really_is_Bad_for_Your_Health.html
(accessed 10 05, 2012).

commutes over ninety minutes
: Crabtree, Steve, “Wellbeing Lower Among Workers with Long Commutes: Back Pain, Fatigue, Worry All Increase with Time Spent Commuting,” Gallup, August 13, 2010,
www.gallup.com/poll/142142/wellbeing-lower-among-workers-long-commutes.aspx
(accessed December 3, 2010).

average daily commute
: Condon, Patrick M.,
Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies for the Post Carbon World
(Washington, DC: Island Press, 2010), 23.

eighty minutes in Toronto
: Toronto Board of Trade, “Toronto as a Global City: Scorecard on Prosperity—2011.”

solution to congestion
: Williams-Derry, Clark, “Study: More Roads = More Traffic,”
Sightline Daily
, December 14, 2011,
http://daily.sightline.org/2011/12/14/study-more-roads-more-traffic/
(accessed March 3, 2012).

self-propelled commuters
: Gatersleben and Uzzell, “Affective Appraisals of the Daily Commute,” 416–31.