Urban Design and Mental Health

Abstract

Physical and social environments can affect our mental health. With increasing numbers of people living in cities, public mental health is now expanding beyond the remit of psychiatrists and psychologists. Designing to support and improve mental health has not always been an obvious priority for citymakers, even as they begin to focus on physical health-though in fact perhaps some of the greatest potential for their impact lies with mental health. Policymakers, urban planners, architects, engineers, transport specialists, developers, and others impact on mental health through their contributions to the design and delivery of the urban built environment. This chapter discusses key opportunities for smart urban design to help promote good mental health, prevent illness, and support people who have mental health challenges. We focus on green space, active space, prosocial space, and safe space across the lifespan, from ensuring safe and local play opportunities for children to empowering older people to socialize and safely navigate around their neighborhoods. Citymakers can consciously seize opportunities for sustainable improvement of population mental health, putting the research into action through policies, plans, design, development, and management. Meanwhile, more research-and its funding-is needed to realize the opportunities in this high impact field.