Menu
City Know-hows
Target audience
For the attention of: Psychologists, psychotherapists and built environment policy-makers and public health practitioners.
The problem
The most common measure of prevention that governments around the world implemented to contain the COVID virus was mandatory lockdowns. These lockdowns affected not only interpersonal relations, but also the mood of residents and urban dwellers.
What we did and why
We investigated the association between household density/overcrowding and self-reported mood levels during a COVID-19 lockdown. Using data collected through an online survey carried out during the lockdown in Ecuador, a small developing country, we estimated an ordered probit model. An ordered probit model is a statistical technique used to estimate relationships between a dependent variable and a set of independent variables. Our results confirm that higher levels of household density/overcrowding are related to lower levels of self-reported mood.
Our study’s contribution
We reveal;
Higher levels of household density/overcrowding are related to lower levels of self-reported mood.
A negative relationship between household density and reported mood during quarantine is significant for those who were born in 1969–1980 and 1994–2010, the so-called X and Z generations, respectively. However this association is not significant for those who were born in 1949–1968 and 1981–1993, known as baby boomers and generation Y, respectively.
Impacts for city policy and practice
From a public policy perspective, our results suggest that efforts to improve living conditions in terms of dwelling space should be particularly aimed at age groups that may be more vulnerable to overcrowding. Some of these strategies could include credits for home improvement, with preferential interest rates and longer periods within which to pay them.
Further information
Full research article:
Associations between household density and mood during COVID-19 lockdowns: evidence from Ecuador by Juan Pablo Díaz-Sánchez (@juanpadiaz21), Cintya Lanchimba, Franklin Velasco and Mariel Paz y Miño
Related posts
Autism inclusive urban environments design principles to support sensory and cognitive navigation.
The high risk of death and disability from being struck by a car is unevenly distributed geographically and socially. Our analytics reveal a troubling pattern in that people from Black and Latino neighbourhoods facean especially high risk of crashes, both near and far from home.
Vision Zero leaders in the hundreds of participating cities across the world in planning departments, nonprofits, and community groups need to look at our approach.
With so many different forms of guidance available for incorporating health into planning, our study evaluated what makes a healthy planning framework successful.
