Fifth session¶
When? 4-19 December 2023
Who? Roger Guilemany and Jana Tothill
What? Design Dialogues
DESIGN DIALOGUES I¶
Urbanism and mental well-being¶
There are many contributing factors to mental health and mental illness, but urban planning and design can help determine whether (or not) the city is a positive, supportive, nurturing place to live, with features that support people’s mental health.¶
We live in an expanding world, in which it is predicted that by 2050, 69% of the world’s population will live, work and play in close proximity to many millions of other people. But rates of stress, depression and mental illness are also increasing in urban areas globally. Changes in social networks, including the rise of social media, and social support systems in cities are leading to isolation and loneliness.
The burden of mental health problems is increasing everywhere, with rising rates of conditions like anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, aggravated by increasing violence and trauma from natural and man-made disasters, political strife and division, and human rights violations. This is well-documented by the major global health agencies.
Depression is the primary driver of disability worldwide; and one in four people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives, although there are currently big gaps in the data, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
New paradigms to support mental health are therefore needed. One area of promise, is a new mental health urbanism, which has been named ‘restorative urbanism’; how urban design can foster human flourishing in a rapidly expanding world.
The ‘signatures’ of restorative urbanism include well connected cities and effective wayfinding systems; high-quality aesthetics in urban form; dynamic, multi-functioning neighbourhoods that support people’s everyday activities; and letting nature right into the city core.
First Term Documentation¶
The first part of my Design Dialogues was dedicated to the first term of the trimester. I designed a book/magazine to wrap up every seminar, activity and reflection I had done.
Interest flow¶
As part of the wrap-up of the semester, I represented in a chart how my different interests have been shifting; what activities I’ve done, what books I’ve read and what inspiring projects I’ve discovered.
Design Space¶
For the Design Dialogues I did again my Design Space, taking into consideration the main topic of my presentation: urbanism and mental well-being. This exercise helped me to represent a big chaos that was going on in my head.
