Infrastructure distribution in cities and the improvement of the well-being of citizens in Japan: evidence from the quantile regression

Urban construction under the aging society needs to provide efficient services for residents. We investigated the heterogenous relationship between various types of municipality-level critical infrastructure and park construction and the subjective well-being of citizens based on quantile regression using original survey data and the Japanese government statistics bureau of 2015-2017. Positive relationships were found in the low-and middle-level life satisfaction regions owing to the construction of museums or libraries, government branches, government services, health centers, police stations, fire stations, schools, hospitals, post offices, disabled and senior centers, and parks. Moreover, citizens were more likely to feel safe if the living community had comprehensive government-related institutions, including government offices, police stations, fire stations, schools, and post offices, among others. Our results indicated that the number of favorable infrastructures should be increased in areas with low levels of life satisfaction and less-safe communities to improve the citizens' overall well-being.