Notes

Cities affect one’s happiness because people spend most of their time doing available activities in the cities where they live. These activities can be watching a film, or making picnic in a green area. For example, if one city does not have green space where people can enjoy themselves with their friends and family, then the happiness level of this city is not likely to be high. Take my hometown, Konya, as an example, there are many green places. So you can see happy people in the streets laughing, and joking. Therefore, people living in Konya are generally happy, as there are many green areas and opportunities to have a good time. When it comes to green places in urban places, Efroymson et al. (2022) describes New York City as a lively and calm city since it is an environment-friendly city, which has green areas. For example, Central Park in New York is appealing to both residents and tourists. Moreover, the planning of cities influences the cheerfulness of the citizens. Efroymson et al. (2022) states that if the design of the cities is focused on centralising shops by destroying green places, then the locals will probably not be happy. Therefore, the overall design of the cities and whether they have green areas or not impact the level of happiness of people who live there.
Another factor that influences the cheerfulness of the locals is squares. Many residents want to spend quality time in public places. For instance, we can see Aladdin Tepesi in Konya. Many people are happy on Aladdin Tepesi because the square is so charming and there are many things to do around the square, such as sitting on the grass, chatting with friends, drinking coffee or reading a book. This environment makes people happy as it creates an upbeat atmosphere. It is a preferred place for many people to have a pleasant time. That's why it's great to live in Konya. Furthermore, the size of the squares in Konya is ideal. In this regard, the School of Life (2015) emphasizes that urban squares shouldn’t be too large since it makes people feel alone or too small because that creates disturbance. As a result, the degree of happiness of a city's residents can vary depending on whether or not it has a decent square.
Last but not least, the relationship between people in urban areas has considerably changed nowadays and this affects the happiness of people. The School of Life (2015) explains that cities are huge and what makes locals close to each other is the feeling of being homely. This feeling can be possible by creating strong neighbourhood relationships. If people do not have the opportunity to be close to each other because of the distance between the streets in urban areas, then they may feel lonely and sad. In Konya, there are both big streets and side streets. Relationships in the alleys are quite strong. The happiness level of people in Konya is generally high because people in Konya are kind, tolerant and helpful towards each other. Consequently, the level of happiness of citizens can be affected by the cities that they live in since they may not live in an uplifting environment, like a neighbourhood which has strong friendships.
In a nutshell, cities gravely affect the happiness level of their citizens because happiness is partly related to whether cities have green spaces, squares, and neighbourhoods or not. Konya is a wonderful city that makes people happy with its green areas, public places like Alaaddin Tepesi and strong human relations.