Assessing human well‐being constructs with environmental and equity aspects: A review of the landscape

Abstract

Abstract Decades of theory and scholarship on the concept of human well‐being have informed a proliferation of approaches to assess well‐being and support public policy aimed at sustainability and improving quality of life. Human well‐being is multidimensional, and well‐being emerges when the dimensions and interrelationships interact as a system. In this paper, we illuminate two crucial components of well‐being that are often excluded from policy because of their relative difficulty to measure and manage: equity and interrelationships between humans and the environment. We use a mixed‐methods approach to review and summarize progress to date in developing well‐being constructs (including frameworks and methods) that address these two components. Well‐being frameworks that do not consider the environment, or interrelationships between people and their environment, are not truly measuring well‐being in all its dimensions. Use of equity lenses to assess well‐being frameworks aligns with increasing efforts to more holistically characterize well‐being and to guide sustainability management in ethical and equitable ways. Based on the findings of our review, we identify several pathways forward for the development and implementation of well‐being frameworks that can inform efforts to leverage well‐being for public policy.

Keywords

• equity
• human–environment interactions
• human–environment interrelations
• nature
• social–ecological systems
• sustainability