‘Design should prioritize well-being over wealth’

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

The executive director of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Centre emphasized that preserving culture and the environment is essential to personal and economic well-being, despite the pressures of modernization.

Speaking at the 8th International Design Conference on Sept. 20, Lhatu discussed the need for public spaces, policies, and services to foster healthier, happier, and more resilient societies.

He outlined Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) framework, built on four pillars: sustainable and equitable social development, good governance and equality before the law, preservation and promotion of culture, and ecological sustainability.

These pillars further break down into nine domains, including education, health, living standards, ecological diversity, psychological well-being, and cultural resilience.

Lhatu stressed that societal well-being is rooted in the strength of social capital, which depends on relationships characterized by family vitality, safety, trust, social support, and reciprocity.

Integrating GNH principles, he urged for a shift in focus beyond economic prosperity to individual and community happiness.

“We need prosperity and wealth, but to what extent? Our life isn’t permanent, and we must leave something for the next generation. We must understand the difference between ‘more’ and ‘enough,’” he said.

He added that the goal should be to “design our mindset toward promoting happiness and well-being, while conserving the environment and culture.”

While Bhutan’s model provides an alternative development paradigm, Lhatu acknowledged that each country, including the Philippines, must adapt it to its own context.

“We are only providing an alternate development paradigm. We are not trying to impose or try to say that the Philippines must adopt this, but you can probably see what could work. […] What could be relevant to your own context, you can probably rethink […] your development approach,” he said.

Tracing the origins of GNH, Lhatu highlighted Bhutan’s legal code of 1629, which stated, “If the government cannot create happiness for its people, there is no purpose for the government to exist.”

The GNH framework is also applied in decision-making through screening tools for projects, ensuring that plans align with ecological, cultural, and community well-being.

Projects that may cause pollution or harm the environment or cultural heritage are rejected if communities oppose them.

“We have a process of consultation with the communities. The communities must be happy and they must accept that this project will bring well-being and happiness and also increase their prosperity. But otherwise, if they feel that this project will bring lot of pollution, spoil their ecological diversity, [and] spoil established cultural properties, they will not give their approval,” he shared.

The preservation of their culture, tradition, and the environment, he said, is one of their greatest strengths, citing Article 5 of their Constitution, which mandates a 60 percent forest cover.

“We are very proud of our culture, and that is one of the greatest strengths that we have in Bhutan, because we are able to preserve it. Bhutan is a small country, we cannot afford all the modernization to influence our culture and environment,” he said.