Happiness | inclusionAI.org

The Happiness in Cities

Background

According to the United Nations, 68% of the world population will live in urban areas by 2050. Yet, modern cities still fail to maximize people's potential. Using an example of the city of Birmingham, the Happiness in Cities project aims to understand how different communities across Birmingham contribute to the city's development and how this diversity can help us build happier cities.

Events

This project featured an art exhibition as well as a week-long festival hosted at the University of Birmingham from October 22, 2019 to October 26, 2019 at the Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre in Birmingham. Please see the detailed programme below. The Urban Festival featured 5 days of events with emphasis on different aspects of urban wellbeing and inclusivity.

Exhibition

The Art of Happiness in Cities Exhibition is a custom exhibition produced by the Portuguese visionary artist Alexander Kharlamov using film photography and silver gelatin printing. The exhibition featured many different communities from all parts of Birmingham to showcase diversity, inclusivity and multi-cultural vibrance of the City of Birmingham.

Over 2,000 people attended the exhibition between October 22nd – 26th 2019 at the University of Birmingham Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre and over 200 researchers, practitioners and students took part in the festival workshops.