New study explores the structural relationship between residential environments and subjective well-being.
Well-being is recognized as a key element of sustainable and healthy societies. Using survey data from 1,001 adults in Japan, a study shows that a better residential environment, characterized by thermal comfort, acoustic quality, lighting quality, hygiene, safety, and security conditions, was linked to greater satisfaction across key life domains, which in turn was associated with higher subjective well-being. This underscores the role of better residential environments in fostering sustainable, healthy, and inclusive societies.
Well-being is increasingly regarded as an important indicator of societal progress, extending beyond economic growth to capture how people experience and evaluate their lives. It is also closely connected to health, longevity, productivity, and quality of life. It has also been included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as Goal 3: “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” In this context, the residential environment may play a particularly important role. Housing is where people spend much of their time, rest, interact with others, and experience everyday comfort, safety, and security. However, while residential environments are often evaluated for energy efficiency, physical health, and comfort, their broader relationship with subjective well-being remains insufficiently understood.
To address this gap, Associate Professor Shun Kawakubo and Shiro Arata, a doctoral student at Keio University, explored the association between subjective well-being and the residential environments, focusing on six environmental conditions. “Although housing forms the basis of everyday life and people spend a significant portion of their daily lives in residential environments, the structural relationship between residential surroundings and subjective well-being has not been thoroughly studied. This inspired us to explore the relationship between subjective well-being and various aspects of the residential environment, and whether life-domain satisfaction mediates this relationship,” shares Dr. Kawakubo. The findings were published in the Journal of Happiness Studies on April 24, 2026.
The researchers analyzed responses from 1,001 adult residents in Japan using structural equation modeling, a statistical approach that can examine complex relationships among observed and latent variables. Participants completed an online survey assessing subjective well-being, residential environment, life-domain satisfaction, demographic factors, and personality traits. The residential environment was evaluated across six components: thermal, acoustic, lighting, hygiene, safety, and security conditions. Life-domain satisfaction was represented by satisfaction with health, personal relationships, time spent on things one likes, the quality of the local environment, and residence.
The model showed that the residential environment was linked to subjective well-being through life-domain satisfaction. Better residential environments were linked to higher satisfaction with important life domains, which in turn was associated with greater subjective well-being. The estimated association between the residential environment and subjective well-being was comparable in magnitude to the association observed for being married and close to that associated with annual income, highlighting the potential importance of the residential environment in people's lives.
The analysis also showed that the residential environment should be understood as multidimensional rather than reduced to a single aspect. In this study, thermal, acoustic, lighting, hygiene, safety, and security conditions were examined together as components of the residential environment. The findings suggest that these everyday environmental conditions collectively characterize the residential environment, which may be associated with residents’ well-being through satisfaction with important life domains.
Demographic factors and personality traits were also considered because subjective well-being is shaped not only by external environments, but also by individual circumstances and tendencies. Factors such as gender, age, marital status, education, working status, and income can influence how people evaluate their health, relationships, leisure, residence, and overall life satisfaction. Personality traits may also affect how residents perceive their surroundings and report well-being. By accounting for these factors, the study was able to more carefully examine the association between residential environment and subjective well-being, rather than attributing differences in well-being solely to residential conditions.
These findings may inform housing design, renovation strategies, residential environment assessment, public health, and sustainability-oriented policy discussions. Dr. Kawakubo explained, “Interventions that improve thermal comfort, reduce noise, enhance lighting quality, strengthen indoor hygiene, and increase safety and security may help support residents’ satisfaction with important life domains and contribute to more supportive living environments.”
Rather than treating the residential environment only as a matter of physical health, comfort, and energy performance, the findings suggest that housing policy and building-sector decisions should also consider subjective well-being. This is particularly relevant as modern societies place increasing emphasis on sustainability, quality of life, and social inclusion.
Because the study used cross-sectional survey data, it cannot establish causal relationships, highlighting the need for future longitudinal research. As the study was based on data collected in Japan, further studies in other countries and regions will be needed to test whether similar patterns appear across different cultural, social, and climatic contexts.
In conclusion, the results provide an important foundation for future longitudinal studies and suggest that improving everyday residential conditions could become part of wider strategies for realizing sustainable and inclusive societies.
Title: How the Residential Environment Shapes Subjective Well-Being
Caption: Residential environments may be linked to subjective well-being through satisfaction with key life domains
Credit: Dr. Shun Kawakubo from Keio University, Japan
License type: Original content
Usage restrictions: Cannot be reused without permission.
About Associate Professor Shun Kawakubo from Keio University
Dr. Shun Kawakubo is an Associate Professor at Keio University’s Department of System Design Engineering in Japan. He received his PhD in engineering from Keio University in 2013. His research specialties are sustainability science and environmental engineering for buildings and urban spaces. His research focuses on the relationships between built environments, sustainability, health and well-being. Through collaborative approaches, his team conducts field surveys, subject experiments, and numerical simulations. By engaging in interdisciplinary co-creation research that blends insights from multiple disciplines, Dr. Kawakubo’s team tackles global challenges in order to contribute to a sustainable future.
Funding information
This study was supported in part by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) through Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) JP19K04740 (PI: Shun Kawakubo).
Reference
Journal： Journal of Happiness Studies
DOI： 10.1007/s10902-026-01043-1
Article Title： Role of the Residential Environment in Shaping Subjective Well-being