Free writing.

Happy. Happiness. It’s a common and foreign topic to me. I thought I knew what it is and what it means to me but the more I think about it the more I find I don’t know what it is. Is that strange? Did I not have the “right” influences to “teach” me what happiness is suppose to be or what it looks like? Or maybe that is the purpose. When you experience something for yourself it stays with you, like an imprint. Okay, this is starting to sound like a dairy lol. My five mins are almost up, but the ‘happy city’ can never exist. If we were all happy- happy would mean nothing therefore the concept to create an urban city for happiness is the same idea to try to find the meaning of life or what happens after death. Its just… too individual? I don’t know. : /

When asked to free write about what is happiness, I initially thinks more individually, which are family, healthy, feeling, and personal activities. However, it change my intension about happiness after we read the book “Happy City” and had the conversation about happiness. I learned that what happiness means to the people who live in urban cities. Experiences and connections might be the main concerns to create happiness for people. Just because people will no longer live alone in urban cities. People meet others everyday and everywhere.  So how to absorb these critical principles into urban design to make a better neighborhood, including blocks, streets, parks, interactive space, will be the responsibilities for designers.

This conversation worked to my benefit because Happiness is key in any aspect of life. Going back to the Psychological conversation, if people were to say, “I get to go to work” instead of “I have to go to work”….there is a sense of happiness to start off your day. Something like this would reflect in your design aspects or whatever job one would have because you have a positive attitude on things. -Daniel Savoca

Respect and dignity for all people living in the neighborhood

Opportunities for social interaction

To design efficient but comfortable living spaces

Listen to peoples’ direct needs and concerns then try to strike a balance

After having read the book by Charles Montgomery, it really made me think about how I interact with others and the place in which I live. I’ve looked into myself and noticed that I am a shy person. Honestly, I think that’s not a good thing whatsoever. Being shy doesn’t allow me to express myself and open up to people like my family and friends. What we talked about in class today really caught my attention was when it was mentioned that social interaction is important. I know what I am capable of as far as meeting people and starting conversation but sometimes I fear what people may think of me. It stresses me out to know that people can be so judgmental sometimes, which is why i find myself holding back and not expressing myself to the point where it’s not doing well for myself and those around me. I agree that to be happy and to be optimistic is my responsibility and that that should be my first priority in life. Internally, I can tell you that I am a very upbeat, happy person, I am super optimistic, I like to laugh and make people laugh and have good vibes around people, I don’t like to dwell on the negatives. But externally, I think all that is filtered out or “thrown away” figuratively speaking by fear.

In Charles Montgomery’s “Happy City”, we began to see what is needed to make a happy city. It is important to think about how architecture and design affects how the people feel and interact with it. For example, when planning out the layout of a city, does it give a dreary sense of living, or does it help promote a positive experience through the space? By briefly taking a look at Colombia, which had a sudden increase in it’s population, Montgomery stated that the population began to feel more like cattle, and had their dignity taken away from them due to the treatment they received. He proposed looking at cities such as Los Angeles and New York City in order to try and solve these problems.