Cities which have a balance between facilities, housing and natural green spaces have lower levels of socio-economic inequality in the life satisfaction of its residents, according to new research by the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit.

The study looked at 66 cities across Europe and found that life satisfaction of their residents varied a great deal. Residents of Zurich reported the most satisfaction and the residents of Athens the least. Cities with an even distribution of facilities, housing and green space were linked with lower levels of inequality between residents’ life satisfaction levels, suggesting that more equal access to a range of facilities and types of land may help reduce the gap in life satisfaction between the most economically-deprived and most affluent residents of a city.

First published: 14 March 2018

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