Inside Vancouver
Sad City - continued
By Charles Montgomery published Sep 2, 2008
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Ours is one of the most beautiful, vibrant, and livable cities in the world. Why aren’t we happy?
Elizabeth Dunn, a member of UBC’s Subjective Well-being Club and a rising star of happiness research, has found that money can indeed make people happy—but only if they give it away. Dunn and her colleagues designed an experiment to test whether altruism makes us feel good.
She and her colleagues designed an experiment to prove that altruism fosters happiness. They asked students to rate their level of happiness, then they handed each student an envelope containing either $5 or $20. Half were told to spend the cash on themselves; the other half were told to give the money to charity or buy a gift for someone else. When they were surveyed again the same evening, students who had spent money on other people were happier than those who had spent on themselves.
For Helliwell, the conclusion is obvious. To fuel happiness, we need to create more opportunities for people to be generous. He experiments constantly with this theme. He buys pitchers of beer for strangers at UBC’s student pub. He loves snowstorms and transit strikes, because they give him a chance to stop and offer people rides. All this generosity makes him feel good, as he knew it would. The studies predicted it.
That insight leaves Helliwell of two minds about the 2010 Winter Olympics. If, as promised, the event fortifies Vancouver’s global brand and drives up the cost of living in the city, it could actually corrode general well-being. But if it creates a culture of volunteerism, then Helliwell predicts a legacy of good cheer.
IF TRUST, EQUITY, and generosity are key elements of the good life, Vancouver’s in the midst of its first great experiment in designing happiness: the Woodward’s project. The rebirth of the Downtown Eastside block that once symbolized civic decrepitude may offer a new model of connected urbanity. A glass condo tower is rising in the 100 block of West Cordova. Designer fixtures and mountain views are on their way, but so is family housing next door. On West Hastings there will be subsidized housing for singles, the rough-edged folk most Vancouverites try to ignore. Simon Fraser University’s new School for Contemporary Arts will set up shop. So will a clutch of nonprofits.
