The greener, the happier? The effects of greenspace on residents' happiness in contemporary urban China

In recent years, research has begun to touch upon the associations between the natural environment and individuals' subjective wellbeing; however, whether such associations would vary among different groups of people remains under-studied. Using four waves (2010-2013) of data from the Chinese General Social Survey, we investigate the group-specific correlation between environment-specifically, greenspace exposure-and individuals' happiness in contemporary urban China. For this study, the normalized difference vegetation index at the county level is a proxy for greenspace exposure. The results from the ordered logit model indicate that county-level green vegetation is associated with individuals' happiness level, but such effects vary with a household's relative deprivation. While greenspace exposure is positively associated with happiness among individuals from less deprived families, it is negatively associated with happiness among those from deprived households. These findings contribute to the body of knowledge of the heterogeneous effect of greenspace on residents' subjective well-being.