Green Environments and Happiness Level in Housing Areas Toward a Sustainable Life
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sustainability Article Green Environments and Happiness Level in Housing Areas toward a Sustainable Life Min Jee Nikki Han and Mi Jeong Kim * School of Architecture, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 25 April 2019; Accepted: 12 August 2019; Published: 1 September 2019 Abstract: Housing environments should enable residents to have positive experiences through the allocation of diverse green environments, which lead to physically and mentally happy, healthy living. Such positive experiences affect their happiness level, thus leading to sustainable lives. However, in Korea, since the 1980s, the design of housing complexes has been overly focused on their economic and iconic value, while the importance of residents’ experiences has been ignored in the living environment. This research explores categories of green environments in accordance with their scale and purpose of use and evaluates green environments in housing areas by focusing on the residents’ happiness levels. Further, this research examines the correlation between green environments and residents’ happiness level and the effect of green environments on their sociality satisfaction level. The results indicate that green environments and happiness levels are critically correlated. Through the results, this research emphasizes the importance of providing structural and strategic planning of green environments in housing areas for residents’ happiness, and thus their sustainable lives. Keywords: green environment; housing environment; residents’ cognition; happiness level; community life 1. Introduction In the 2018 World Happiness Index, Korea ranked 57 out of 156 countries [1]. Diverse factors affect the happiness level (HL) of citizens; however, the quality of their living environment is considered a major issue affecting their HL [2–4]. Many countries, including the United States, Australia, and European nations, consider the green environment in relation to the HL of their citizens by carrying out qualitative examinations of selected cities or urban areas. An awareness of the importance of green environments in housing areas has become more critical as a result of expanding urbanization: currently, 50 percent of the world’s population live in urban areas [5,6]. This research is interested in the HL of citizens in relation to their living environment, specifically in terms of a green environment. In Korea, apartment complexes have developed rapidly since 1962 as a result of dramatic population growth in cities. However, the focus of their development has been on their social capital, including their branding value, aesthetic aspects, and economic development value, and the importance of the natural environment within housing areas has been ignored [7–9]. In addition, the garden designs and types of plants within apartment complexes have been the main focus in green environments in Korea [10]. Many studies in Korea have dealt with green space arrangements, planting structures, and green ratios in apartment complexes, emphasizing the importance of garden concepts and a beautiful environment. However, consideration of how this green environment affects residents in their housing area is lacking. As citizens’ lifestyles become more heavily urbanized, many studies in Europe, Australia, and the United States have started exploring green spaces in relation to residents’ life satisfaction, mental health, and physical health [11–14]. 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