Urban report has a message for the well-to-do

Sir, - Paul Vallely an< href="/80256fa1003e05c1/httppublicpages/1b7c82c17e57a3a68025718d005c5062?opendocumentMark Vernon< href="/80256fa1003e05c1/httppublicpages/f709e478886e1c618025718d005dbadc?opendocumentComment, 16 June) rightly draw attention to the fact that happiness and thsimple things of life matter. This is an important theme in the reporFaithful Cities, by the Archbishops' Commission on Urban Life anFaith.There is a risk that the report, with its roots in Faith in the CityFaithful Cities amplifies what counts as happiness, and recommendnew measures of community well-being which can take into account humaflourishing rather than rely on gross domestic product (GDP). Shifting froGDP, as a way of measuring prosperity, to the measure of sustainable growtdevised by the New Economics Foundation enables environmental costs also to btaken into account.I hope that Faithful Cities will be read not just by thosconcerned with poverty and inequality, but by those who take their vacations iTuscany or by the Tyrrhenian Sea.  Improvement in the lives of poor peoplis not just what is sought 20 years on from Faith in the CityANN MORISY
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