Neuroscience-Based Urban Design
for Mentally Healthy Cities
Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo
1 Key Messages
1. Mental health is an extremely important topic in our urbanized world. Due to the
wide inaccessibility of mental healthcare (isolation, high therapy costs, stigma),
new non-pharmacological, self-care approaches are needed.
2. Connection with nature proves to contribute significantly to the improvement of
mental health of urban dwellers. More specifically, it is the quality and accessibility of urban green spaces—the mere quantity and area of green space in the
city may not be enough.
3. There are certain types and characteristics of urban green spaces that can elicit
beneficial brainwave patterns in the human brain. Anyone can experience this
through nothing more than a passive exposure to them.
4. The grouping of these beneficial characteristics of green spaces was coined
contemplative, and the brain response to them can be associated with stress
reduction, emotion regulation and even helping with depression.
5. The most contemplative views within the city should be identified and protected;
landscape architects and urban planners should include contemplative landscape
features within their designs to create more mentally healthy cities.
2 Background
Urbanization and the recent COVID-19 pandemic highlight the pressing issue of
mental health in the urbanized world. It is vital to recognize urban green spaces as a
A. Olszewska-Guizzo (B)
National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
e-mail: a.o.guizzo@neurolandscape.org
© Zhejiang University Press 2021
F. W. Gatzweiler, Urban Health and Wellbeing Programme,
Urban Health and Wellbeing,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6036-5_3
13
for Mentally Healthy Cities
Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo
1 Key Messages
1. Mental health is an extremely important topic in our urbanized world. Due to the
wide inaccessibility of mental healthcare (isolation, high therapy costs, stigma),
new non-pharmacological, self-care approaches are needed.
2. Connection with nature proves to contribute significantly to the improvement of
mental health of urban dwellers. More specifically, it is the quality and accessibility of urban green spaces—the mere quantity and area of green space in the
city may not be enough.
3. There are certain types and characteristics of urban green spaces that can elicit
beneficial brainwave patterns in the human brain. Anyone can experience this
through nothing more than a passive exposure to them.
4. The grouping of these beneficial characteristics of green spaces was coined
contemplative, and the brain response to them can be associated with stress
reduction, emotion regulation and even helping with depression.
5. The most contemplative views within the city should be identified and protected;
landscape architects and urban planners should include contemplative landscape
features within their designs to create more mentally healthy cities.
2 Background
Urbanization and the recent COVID-19 pandemic highlight the pressing issue of
mental health in the urbanized world. It is vital to recognize urban green spaces as a
A. Olszewska-Guizzo (B)
National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
e-mail: a.o.guizzo@neurolandscape.org
© Zhejiang University Press 2021
F. W. Gatzweiler, Urban Health and Wellbeing Programme,
Urban Health and Wellbeing,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6036-5_3
13