Sometimes Happy City spreads happiness just by being

Earlier this year I was commissioned to edit a career guide for scientists interested in working in the Asia-Pacific region. The science journal Nature wanted a supplement comprising articles, Q&As with employers and snazzy infographics on what readers want to know about doing research in China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

At the start of the planning process I took part in a telephone planning meeting attended by several senior people from the Nature Publishing Group. It had already been decided that much of the content would relate to key academic indicators, such as research paper output, science funding, research quality and on the specialisms of the top institutions in each country.

I was asked for my ideas for some extra content. Attempting to put myself in the shoes of the audience, I decided that even the most dedicated of scientists might want to know about the leisure and cultural activities on offer. How about some graphics representing surfing, hiking, climbing and the quality of the beaches in each country? My suggestion was met with an uncomfortably long silence, followed by polite dismissal.

My second idea was inspired by my renting a desk space at Happy City’s Happiness Hub. I piped up that if I was moving myself and potentially my family to the other side of the world, I’d like to know a little about the quality of life outside of work in these countries. I suggested we used the Happy Planet Index, an assessment of the ability of countries to provide inhabitants with long, happy sustainable lives. The HPI, produced by the New Economics Foundation, gives 151 countries a ranking based on a formula that combines self-reported well-being, life expectancy and ecological footprint.

Thankfully this suggestion went down much better, and after some discussion it was decided the guide would graphs of national HPI ranking and self-reported happiness. This shows, for example, that while China is predicted to top the global R&D spending league table by 2020, its inhabitants report the lowest levels of life satisfaction of the six featured Asia-Pacific region countries by some margin.

Of course ambitious scientists are unlikely to base their key professional choices purely on where they and their families are most likely to be happy. However hopefully seeing quality of life data in this context might sow a few seeds that will grow into thoughts about there being more to life than academic performance statistics, salary levels and R&D spending as a proportion of GDP.

If they do, Happy City will have succeeded in spreading happiness far far beyond its city limits, in a way surely not anticipated when it set up the Happiness Hub.

The guide was published in August.