The Effects of Urban Environmental and Living Conditions on Subjective Well-Being: The Case of German Foreign Service Employees

Heiko Rüger , Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB)
Stefanie Hoherz, Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB)
Norbert F. Schneider, Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB)
Herbert Fliege, Federal Foreign Office
Maria M. Bellinger, Federal Foreign Office
Brenton M. Wiernik, University of South Florida

In an increasingly urbanized world with many employees working abroad, understanding the determinants of urban well-being will become of ever greater relevance. This is likely even more so with the onset of the COVID-19-pandemic as the severity of the disease has been linked to certain living conditions, like air pollution and greenspace. Although individual effects of various living conditions on well-being have been widely studied, little is known about their relative impacts when examined jointly. This study investigates the impact and relative importance of diverse subjectively and objectively assessed aspects of environmental and living conditions on the subjective well-being of German Foreign Service expatriates. Using linear regression and dominance analysis, we find that the aspects ‘quality of/access to nature’, ‘housing’, and ‘quality of public goods’ showed the strongest relationships with subjective well-being. Subjectively rated characteristics showed stronger relations with well-being than externally assessed characteristics. Results can inform organisations which send employees abroad as well as city planners improve their policies and decision-making.

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 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe