The pursuit of happiness: could a ‘happy city index’ end Bristol’s blues?

In a drive to see human contentment guide policymaking, a research centre in Bristol has found a way to score cities by their residents' wellbeing. In a place which is home to some of England's poorest areas, politicians are listening

If there is one experience every citizen of Bristol knows well, it is the misery of trudging, sodden and panting, up a steep hill as the rain pours down on you. No word captures the feeling of grumbling discontent it inspires, and few would be foolish enough to put a number on it.

But some Bristolians are trying to do exactly that. They have become fed up of being fed up - and as a starting point to cheering up their communities, they are trying to measure the city's happiness in order to increase it.

We have the opportunity "to measure progress beyond 'L""et's grow the economy'," which is often what we default to

Related: Bristol mayor Marvin Rees: 'My dad arrived to signs saying": "No Irish, no blacks, no dogs'