A STUDY ON THE ACTUAL STATE OF HAPPINESS VERSUS RESIDENTIAL SATISFACTION —CONSIDERING THE CITY TYPOLOGY BY URBAN AGING PROBLEMS—

Abstract

 In recent years, due to the progression of population decline and aging, research on factors influencing population change has attracted much attention in regional development policies. In particular, the influence of such an important component of well-being as happiness is viewed as one of the urgent topics in urban development. In this research, the actual state of happiness in Japan considering the impact of urban aging is analyzed compared to residential satisfaction. The following results were revealed: 1) There is a correlation between happiness and population change, although happiness is less varied than residential satisfaction. 2) The distribution of happiness and residential satisfaction values in city typology considering urban aging is narrower for happiness but with more outliers. The general trend shows an increase of both indicators with the increase in population. 3) As for the influence of urban aging problems, happiness is more affected by components related to personal life, such as the number of families in a municipality. 4) There are some exceptions from the general trend of the distribution of happiness and residential satisfaction values in city typology, which the conditions of urban aging problems can explain.