Living in cities increases the risk of developing mental health issues when compared to living in rural areas. This scientific consensus is likely linked with the exposure to social and physical environments that are relatively more stressful and strenuous in urban as opposed to rural areas. Social and physical environmental factors that often correlate with increased risk of developing mental illness within urban populations include noise and pollution, and lower socio-economic status of many groups. Moreover, the brain overstimulation caused by spaces being filled with built-up areas mainly composed of non-natural elements may play a role in increasing the risk of developing mental disorders.
Nevertheless, little is known about the causal relationships between city attributes and mental health, even less relating to protective measures and pathways to inducing positive outcomes through adjustments of urban living spaces. Researchers and practitioners from various disciplines, including psychiatry, neuroscience, psychology, social sciences, geography, urban planning and architecture, landscape architecture, and urban ecology as well as urban decision-makers all strive to understand the relationship between built environments and human mental health. Such insights can serve in achieving better and healthier living in urban areas.
This Research Topic welcomes contributions addressing the above issues through experimental, cross-sectional, and qualitative studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses as well as Reviews and Commentaries. More specifically, with the scope falling under the following themes:
- Novel mental health interventions in a city context,
- Human-nature connection and its impact on health and well-being,
- Neuroarchitecture,
- Environmental Neuroscience,
- Evidence-based design of urban spaces for mental health,
- Mental health and wellbeing spatial interventions for more inclusive cities,
- New technologies and methods of assessments of the environmental quality and wellbeing metrics,
- Healing cities, healing gardens, and dementia-friendly communities,
- Biophilic cities and mental health,
- Novel findings on effects of urban heat island, pollution and crowding on mental health and wellbeing,
- Wayfinding in high-density environments,
- Impact of COVID-19 on mental health in urban populations.
We would like to acknowledge that Dr. Bruno Marques and Dr. Nour Tawil have acted as coordinators and have contributed to the realization of this Research Topic.
Living in cities increases the risk of developing mental health issues when compared to living in rural areas. This scientific consensus is likely linked with the exposure to social and physical environments that are relatively more stressful and strenuous in urban as opposed to rural areas. Social and physical environmental factors that often correlate with increased risk of developing mental illness within urban populations include noise and pollution, and lower socio-economic status of many groups. Moreover, the brain overstimulation caused by spaces being filled with built-up areas mainly composed of non-natural elements may play a role in increasing the risk of developing mental disorders.
Nevertheless, little is known about the causal relationships between city attributes and mental health, even less relating to protective measures and pathways to inducing positive outcomes through adjustments of urban living spaces. Researchers and practitioners from various disciplines, including psychiatry, neuroscience, psychology, social sciences, geography, urban planning and architecture, landscape architecture, and urban ecology as well as urban decision-makers all strive to understand the relationship between built environments and human mental health. Such insights can serve in achieving better and healthier living in urban areas.
This Research Topic welcomes contributions addressing the above issues through experimental, cross-sectional, and qualitative studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses as well as Reviews and Commentaries. More specifically, with the scope falling under the following themes:
- Novel mental health interventions in a city context,
- Human-nature connection and its impact on health and well-being,
- Neuroarchitecture,
- Environmental Neuroscience,
- Evidence-based design of urban spaces for mental health,
- Mental health and wellbeing spatial interventions for more inclusive cities,
- New technologies and methods of assessments of the environmental quality and wellbeing metrics,
- Healing cities, healing gardens, and dementia-friendly communities,
- Biophilic cities and mental health,
- Novel findings on effects of urban heat island, pollution and crowding on mental health and wellbeing,
- Wayfinding in high-density environments,
- Impact of COVID-19 on mental health in urban populations.
We would like to acknowledge that Dr. Bruno Marques and Dr. Nour Tawil have acted as coordinators and have contributed to the realization of this Research Topic.