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City of Happiness · Rajasthan, India

Jaipur receives well-being as hospitality.

The Pink City hosts the Global Happiness Forum & Festival. In October 2026 its Governor opened the forum, its Mayor closed it, and hundreds of students filled the stage between them.

When the leaders of a state and a city stand on the same stage as its students and artisans, a City of Happiness stops being an idea. Jaipur is ready to measure what matters.

Explore the ecosystems Read the 2026 recap

Host city · Global Happiness Forum & Festival · 3rd edition, 2026

The audience and speakers of the Global Happiness Forum & Festival at Birla Auditorium, Jaipur, October 2026.
3rd
Edition of the Forum & Festival
2
Days, 10–11 October 2026
4
Wellness sessions
35+
Speakers

10 billion free, conscious and happy people by 2050 — beginning with the places people actually live.

The ecosystem family

A city is where every ecosystem meets.

The World Happiness Foundation works through five ecosystems of happiness. In Jaipur they already shared one auditorium: monks and scientists, entrepreneurs and artisans, teachers and students.

Cities of Happiness

A Governor and a Mayor on the same stage as the city's people.

Schools of Happiness

Hundreds of students in the rows — and dancing on stage.

Enterprises of Happiness

Local companies powering the sessions and joining the dialogue.

Hospitals of Happiness

Mental and physical wellness held as one conversation.

Destinations of Happiness

A heritage city whose welcome is itself a practice of well-being.

The 2026 story

Two days in the Pink City.

Under the theme A Pathway to Global Wellbeing, four sessions moved from spiritual to physical, educational and mental wellness.

  1. 10 October 2026

    The lamp is lit

    The Governor of Rajasthan opens the forum at Birla Auditorium and lights the lamp.

  2. 10 October 2026

    What's your hidden light?

    The Meta Pets musical launches on stage; students, speakers and volunteers dance together.

  3. 11 October 2026

    Education for life

    Day 2 brings sound, classrooms, mental well-being and lessons from Bhutan.

  4. 11 October 2026

    A Mayor, a book and a city

    The Mayor of Jaipur closes the forum and releases the books of this edition, among them Happytalism.

The spectrum

From pain to flourishing.

A City of Happiness measures the whole line — not only the pain governments habitually count — and then acts where the distance is greatest.

PainDistressCopingStabilityWell-beingFlourishingFundamental Peace

Pain that goes unnamed becomes policy by default.

Flourishing that gets measured becomes policy by choice.

Jaipur's invitation

A city that already welcomes well-being as hospitality has the chance to do the harder thing next: listen to every neighbourhood and measure honestly.

The pain map

The seven domains of the Global Pain & Trauma Map.

Before a city designs programmes, it maps where life hurts. These are the seven domains a Jaipur listening phase would read.

01

Mental & emotional

Stress, anxiety and access to support for students and adults.

02

Social & relational

Family, neighbourhood and the bonds that hold a city together.

03

Physical

Everyday health, movement and rest.

04

Economic

Security and opportunity as households actually experience them.

05

Ecological

Air, water, heat and green space.

06

Civic & institutional

Trust in institutions and the felt experience of being heard.

07

Spiritual & existential

Meaning, purpose and belonging — a living tradition in Jaipur.

The map's purpose is to make the next decision answerable to something real.

“Fundamental Peace is not the absence of pain… it is the transmutation of its energy into love and compassion.”

Luis Miguel Gallardo

The crossmap

Shadow → Gift → Essence.

Each domain of pain carries a gift when it is faced, and an essence when the gift is lived.

Mental & emotional
AnxietyAwarenessCalm
Shadow · Gift · EssenceSphere: Mind
Social & relational
IsolationConnectionBelonging
Shadow · Gift · EssenceSphere: Relationships
Physical
ExhaustionCareVitality
Shadow · Gift · EssenceSphere: Body
Economic
ScarcityContributionAbundance
Shadow · Gift · EssenceSphere: Prosperity
Ecological
DisconnectionStewardshipHarmony
Shadow · Gift · EssenceSphere: Nature
Civic & institutional
DistrustParticipationShared purpose
Shadow · Gift · EssenceSphere: Community
Spiritual & existential
EmptinessMeaningFundamental Peace
Shadow · Gift · EssenceSphere: Spirit

The framework

Nine spheres a city can plan around.

The Wheel of Happiness and Well-Being gives a city nine spheres it can plan, budget and report on.

1

Body

Health, movement, rest.

2

Mind

Mental health, attention, learning.

3

Spirit

Meaning and inner life, without imposing any doctrine.

4

Relationships

Family, friendship, everyday bonds.

5

Community

Participation and being known by one's neighbours.

6

Work

Dignity and contribution.

7

Prosperity

Security, sufficiency and fair access to opportunity.

8

Nature

Green space and environmental quality.

9

Purpose

The city's shared direction, and each resident's.

Nine spheres, one strategy — the framework is the connective tissue, not another initiative.

The instrument

Read Jaipur through the Diagnostic.

The Ecosystems of Happiness Diagnostic reads a community across 54 KPIs, the 7 domains of the Global Pain & Trauma Map, the 9 spheres of the Wheel of Happiness and Well-Being, the Shadow → Gift → Essence framework, and the Fundamental Peace Index.

Open the Diagnostic for JaipurExplore the Global Pain & Trauma Map

Guided assessment · No data is uploaded — results live in your browser until shared.

The operating model

Seven layers that outlast a festival.

A forum is a moment. These are the layers that turn the moment into a way of governing.

The operating model 01

Leadership

State and city leaders who hold well-being as public business.

The operating model 02

Framework

The Wheel of Happiness and Well-Being as a common language.

The operating model 03

Listening

Recurring resident participation, not a single event.

The operating model 04

Programmes

Interventions aimed where the map shows the greatest distance.

The operating model 05

Gathering

Public moments — like the Forum & Festival — that make belonging visible.

The operating model 06

Measurement

Re-measurement to report progress instead of assuming it.

The operating model 07

Network

Learning shared with sister cities.

The five pillars

Where the work lands.

Each layer expresses itself in five pillars of city life.

Leadership

The Governor's lamp and the Mayor's books: leadership already on stage.

Schools of Happiness

Students as participants, not audience.

Enterprises of Happiness

Employers invited into the same framework.

Community & belonging

Artisans, volunteers and families at the centre.

Observatory

Findings published and returned to residents in plain language.

Cities of Happiness network

No city moves alone.

Cities of Happiness share a framework, a measurement instrument, and their learning. Six cities hold the network today — designated first.

Jaipur, India

Host of the Global Happiness Forum & Festival — the Pink City, where well-being is received as hospitality.

This city

What success looks like

Signals a city can see.

Students and teachers name where they find support — and use it.

Well-being appears routinely in city planning documents.

The Forum & Festival returns each year with more neighbourhoods taking part.

Findings are published and discussed with residents.

In pictures

Jaipur, October 2026.

Twelve moments from the third Global Happiness Forum & Festival. The full story and all 154 photos are one click away.

  • The whole forum on one stage
  • Jaipur's welcome: young women in Rajasthani dress greet guests with aarti
  • Deep Prajwalan: the Governor lights the ceremonial lamp
  • Luis Miguel Gallardo addresses the inaugural session
  • What’s your hidden light? The question at the heart of the musical
  • Luis Miguel Gallardo dances with participants on stage
  • A Rajasthani folk dance with balanced pots honours the host state
  • Day 2 opens with the Sound of Infinity sound bath led by Dr. Anju S. Sharma
  • A plaque, a marigold scarf and a smile
  • The Mayor releases Happytalism with Luis Miguel Gallardo and Vikram Rastogi
  • Luis Miguel Gallardo on Jaipur as a City of Happiness
  • A stage full of joy: delegates, students and speakers together
Read the recap See all 154 photosEvent page

Next steps

From a festival to a practice.

  1. 1

    Convene leadership

    One accountable lead, one written commitment.

  2. 2

    Listen at scale

    Surveys, circles and workshops beyond the usual voices.

  3. 3

    Write it into the plan

    A priority with an owner and a reporting rhythm.

Bring a City of Happiness to your community.

The World Happiness Foundation accompanies mayors, councils and city managers to adapt this sequence to their own city — at their pace and with their people.

Write to the Foundation
Contact the Foundation
Open the Diagnostic

Sources: World Happiness Foundation, Global Happiness Forum & Festival Jaipur 2026 recap (October 2026).