Let's escape to our happy place. How would our cities, towns, and public spaces look if we created them to be happy places—if they took the emotional, psychological, and social needs of communities into account? The spaces that surround us—through their design, programming, and social characteristics—impact our physical and mental well-being. So when mental health—already a rising and leading cause of death and disability—is seen by many as the underlying crisis amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, shouldn't we be doing more to create responsive, livelier, and happier places?
