I can't buy food or pay my mortgage with happiness.

I didn't say it was easy. And I'm not talking about individual action. Governments should incentivize and force different things. Conceptually simple example: construction projects should require sustainability and aesthetics reviews, including, for example, use of better materials and green and walkable spaces. For example I find the butt ugly and cheap American solutions for sidewalks (I think continuously poured concrete cut into slabs with circular saws) much worse than the European ones (paving stones, often natural stone). The US is the richer country and it frequently looks cheaper and poorer.

Beauty matters.

What a terrible idea. I don't want my government to "force" things. Nor should idiot government bureaucrats have any authority over something as subjective as aesthetics.

Paving stones are terrible for skates, and not great for running either. Poured concrete is much smoother. And it's not cut with circular saws so I have no idea what you're referring to there.

Poured asphalt, then.

And it doesn't hurt to plant more trees. American cities, especially in the South, seem to be utterly allergic to trees. Which makes even less sense in hot climates.

Or huge billboards. Lack of general greenery and hedges to block noise. Stroads. I could go on an on. The average built environment in US cities and suburbs is awful and again, cheap.

Whatever sensible measure you can imagine, it’s most likely very strongly correlated with gdp

At some point they diverge, otherwise we wouldn't have Karnataka and the US sitting where they are for HDI rankings.

When I moved from country where I had to use public transit to a country where I could drive, my happiness (re transportation) increased by a large amount.

I am not sure how this relates to the whole "public transit vs cars" argument though.

Where was this place where you could not drive? I don't know of any such place.