Unpacking the Role of Household and Neighborhood Infrastructure in Shaping Human Wellbeing: Method Development to Inform Sustainability

Abstract

Cities, which are increasingly the key providers of infrastructure provision in an urbanizing world, are a key component of the global striving for a more sustainable world. With three billion people joining cities around the world by 2050, the interactions between Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being, and Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities have come into the spotlight (United Nations, 2018).

These interactions are important, yet data sets at the national level and finer-scale are rare across academia. This study uses a new data set, produced by Kirti Das and Yingling Fan at the University of Minnesota, to unpack the role of household and neighborhood infrastructures among other wellbeing determinants in relationship to the Cantril evaluation of life. We draw from two analysis methods that are typically implemented in the business world, Importance-Performance Analysis and Three Factor Theory regression modeling, to analyze correlations between wellbeing and wellbeing determinants in both a linear and non-linear lens. In addition, we use explicit and implicit techniques to analyze the differences in what people say is important to the evaluation of their life, and what is correlated with their Cantril evaluation.

This study finds that neighborhood infrastructure is near median importance of 13 wellbeing determinants, whereas household infrastructure is the top importance factor in informing reported wellbeing. In the linear models, we find that income, education, family relationships, work, and health are the most important correlates to the Cantril score. However, the threshold analysis clarifies the relationship. Income, education, and neighborhood infrastructure are found to be basic factors, home infrastructure and family relationships are performance factors, and health and work are exciting factors.