Green for wellbeing – science tells us how to design urban spaces that heal us

One in five Australians will suffer from a mental health issue this year and living in a city makes it far more likely. Research shows that city dwellers have a 20% higher chance of suffering anxiety and an almost 40% greater likelihood of developing depression.

Generic plotting of ‘green space’ on an urban plan
does not target mental wellbeing unless it is designed
to engage us witht he sights, sounds and smells of nature. 

Promisingly, however, research has also found that people in urban areas who live closest to the greatest “green space” are significantly less likely to suffer poor mental health.

Urban designers thus have a significant role to play in lowering these rates of mental illness, and the data on how nature affects our brains are central to changing the ways we design. As depression is the world’s biggest cause of disability, we cannot afford to ignore the impact of public environments on mental health.

Multiple stressors associated with city living have been shown to increase activity in the parts of the brain corresponding to the “flight or fight” response.

Read the piece on The Conversation by a Research Associate from the Australian Urban Design Research Centre at the University of Western Australia,  Zoe Meyers - “Green for wellbeing – science tells us how to design urban spaces that heal us.”