We know that our environment has a significant impact on our mood. But how aware are you of how the place you are in effects your mood? Also, are we designing for all personality types or only a subset who tend to be over-represented on urban planning boards? There are the questions Dr Nigel Cartlidge of Griffith University explores in his research. We teamed up back in July to turn his research into an app that’s usable and downloadable by all, which is where the Your Happy Place App comes in to play.

Currently available on Expo.io as a working demonstration of the concept. Nigel will be presenting the app and the broader plan for it at The International Urban Design Conference taking place right now in Sydney.

The idea has a two-sided market. One side of the market is everyone interested in emotional and wellness tracking and analysis. Ideally, users will use the app every day to record their emotions, taking into account the place they are in, and the app will provide feedback to them. The other side of the market is the urban design and planning community, who could use the data to better design and build urban spaces.

The ideas are still developing, and it’s all currently bootstrapped by Nigel, and his wife, Janet. I am on board as CTO and chief developer. Hopefully, we can drum up enough interest to start raising some seed funding. The website for the business side of things is Personality and Place. I cannot be at the conference, but I am sure Nigel is doing very well!