Conclusion

When looking at the evidence presented in the context of happi- ness and well-being, have the developers at Kings Cross created a space which allows individuals’ well-being to thrive and to feel happy? Yes. It would be very easy for developers to acquire land and not consider the needs of the community who will inhabit that space after development, building faceless glass structures which stand idly next to one another like lost souls very similar to the types of generic city Rem Koolhaas talks about. It is all too common in many competing global cities. However Argent have not only taken much time in understanding the local community with the CEO interviewing members of the local area, but also in the way the space has been designed. Adhering to many policies set out which encourage and allow individuals well-being to thrive through their use of ample green and public space, a mixture of building uses, building the element of social trust with existing residents and a walkable mostly car free neighbourhood.

Unfortunately this has been done not for the benefit of many but for a select few. The space has attracted as mentioned earlier in the report, many a large conglomerate and multinational corpo- ration, Google being the firebrand. King’s Cross will be their HQ and as such they require not only an architectural anomaly but the urban space too. Putting into perspective the average salary of a Google employee is £93,000 (PayScale 2019) there is no doubt that on hot summer days Granary Square will be enveloped by Google employees like ants on a dropped ice cream with burgeon- ing queue of middle class millennials waiting for their soya iced caramel frappuccinos from the bourgeoisie boutique cafes of Coal Drops Yard.

Happiness and well-being is now too a commodity, something to be marketed and sold. Something which is now an immutable right of the wealthy.