Happy City Initiative

HAPPY CITY is a Bristol based charity which aims to improves lives through a focus on wellbeing.
They have received recognition from Zero Carbon Britain: Rethinking the Future, and World Happiness Report 2015
History
Happy City was founded in 2010 by Liz and Mike Zeidler. The couple have 20 years experience in strategic change with specialist experience in sustainability, international development and cultural projects.
Projects
Measures and Policy
The Happy City Index is the world's first city wide measure of happiness and wellbeing.
The Happy City Index aims to:
# Collect wellbeing data that can be used by local organisation and policymakers to make better decisions
# Engage citizens in the measurement process helping people better understand their wellbeing and how they can improve it
In 2015 a a prototype of the index was launched in Bristol in Partnership with Bristol City Council, the University of Bristol and other community organisations. The prototype found that factors such as close personal relationships, social interactions and community belonging have the greatest positive impact on wellbeing
Happy City have developed the Happiness Pulse, an online survey which is taken by members of the public which offers an objective snapshot of the survey-taker's wellbeing. The short survey asks simple questions on mental and emotional wellbeing, behaviour wellbeing and social wellbeing, and at the end of the survey the taker receives a happiness score and pointers on how to improve their lifestyle. The city-wide results of the survey will be used to understand drivers of wellbeing, gain detail on the impact of policy on local lives and provide a unifying measure of success across government silos. The Happiness Pulse was launched in Bristol on 25 April 2016, and aims to roll out to cities across the United Kingdom in 2017.
The Happiness Pulse can be easily adapted and used by a wide range of stakeholders, for example the University of Bristol is currently piloting a university-specific version of the tool to measure the wellbeing of their students
The Happy City Index is lead by Happy City and run in collaboration with a wide range of partner organisations including New Economics Foundation, Office of National Statistics (ONS) National Wellbeing Programme, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), University of Cambridge Wellbeing Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol City Council and What Works Centre for Wellbeing.
Campaigns
Happy City runs a number of low-cost, easily replicable projects which are designed to encourage happiness on a community scale. The projects also aims to provoke debate about what really matters and inspire personal action.
Upbeat Streets
Campaign run by Happy City in 2014 to get local people to capture and share pictures of places within Bristol that make them feel happy. The idea behind the project was to encourage people to notice and appreciate the positive things already going on around them.

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