The 2020 World Happiness Report suggests that rural residents in Northern and Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand are generally happier than their urban counterparts. Similar findings have been reported in country-level studies and broader regional research, especially in Europe. Such findings go against conventional wisdom in the field and represent something of a conundrum to researchers and policymakers alike: the rural–urban happiness paradox. Is quality of life really better in the countryside? How and under which circumstances is this the case? Did influential writers like Edward Glaeser get it all wrong when suggesting that the city had now triumphed? What can we learn from digging deeper in the rural–urban happiness paradox and which critical questions does this leave us with for the future? What might policymakers, planners, architects and other influential actors learn from such an exercise? The purpose of the proposed book is to delve deeper into these matters by asking what quality of life in rural areas is actually all about. Since 2018 a cross-disciplinary team of researchers from four research environments at three Danish universities has been carrying out an ambitious research project to do just that. In this edited volume their findings are presented alongside chapters written by specially commissioned international authors from across Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.
cities. More specifically, this second conclusion applies mainly to countries with an Anglo-Saxon heritage and not to countries with a Latin heritage. In a follow-up article, Berry and Okulicz-Kozaryn ( 2011 ) analyse the urban–rural happiness difference in the US only, with data from the General Social Survey. In this article, the authors find a clear pattern showing an urban–rural
. Berry , B. J. , & Okulicz-Kozaryn , A. ( 2009 ). Dissatisfaction with city life: A new look at some old questions . Cities , 26 , 117 – 124 . Berry , B. J. , & Okulicz-Kozaryn , A. ( 2011 ). An urban-rural happiness
for individuals with depression . Journal of Affective Disorders , 140 ( 3 ), 300 – 305 . Berry , B. J. , & Okulicz-Kozaryn , A. ( 2011 ). An urban-rural happiness gradient . Urban
. M. ( 2020 ). Urban-rural happiness differentials across the world . In J. F. Helliwell , R. Layard , J. D. Sachs , & J.-E. De Neve (Eds), World happiness report (pp. 66 – 94 ). New York : Sustainable Development Solutions Network
, a respondent can have residence in an area with an urban character or out in the countryside. As we discussed above, measuring instead the urban–rural continuum with an individual-level variable could potentially be a better choice in the investigation of an urban–rural happiness divide than by measuring at the municipality level. However, as is apparent from the results, this
Brenner , N. , & Schmid , C. ( 2015 ). Towards a new epistemology of the urban? City , 19 ( 2–3 ), 151 – 182 . Burger , M. , Morrison , P. , Hendriks , M. , & Hoogerbrugge , M. M. ( 2020 ). Urban-rural happiness differentials across the
. , Morrison , P. , Hendriks , M. , & Hoogerbrugge , M. M. ( 2020 ). Urban-rural happiness differentials across the world . In J. F. Helliwell , R. Layard , J. D. Sachs , & J. E. De Neve (Eds), World happiness report (pp
– 573 . https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12119 Burger , M. , Morrison , P. , Hendriks , M. , & Hoogerbrugge , M. M. ( 2020 ). Urban-rural happiness differentials across the world . In J. F. Helliwell
Research , 102 ( 1 ), 81 – 91 . Burger , M. , Morrison , P. , Hendriks , M. , & Hoogerbrugge , M. M. ( 2020 ). Urban-rural happiness differentials across the world . In J. F. Helliwell , R