Benches for connection: Simple urban design to fight loneliness
My study shows that simple ‘Happy to Chat’ benches successfully encourage spontaneous conversations, leading to positive feelings and new social connections. I found these benches can:
• Create welcoming spaces for casual and meaningful interactions.
• Promote emotional well-being and social bonding.
• Act as a subtle ‘social nudge’ to encourage interaction.
Exploring the restorative and social value of urban running environments as third places, Manila, The Philippines
We asked runners across Metro Manila to rate their usual running spots, not just based on convenience or safety, but on how these places make them feel. Do they offer a sense of community? Do they reduce stress? Can people connect with others there, even informally? These questions are rooted in the idea of “third places”, spaces that are neither home nor work but still feel like a meaningful part of daily life.
Understanding mental health in a middle-income city: The role of built environment components in Mashhad, Iran
As an urban planner, designer, or manager in a developing country, to what extent and in what ways do you think your decisions can impact the mental health of citizens? How beneficial do you think replicating the urban experiences and knowledge from developed countries could be?
Healing landscapes: The role of urban greenery in rebuilding cities
In the aftermath of conflict, cities prioritize reconstruction, but green spaces often get left behind. This study delves into how residents of post-conflict cities engage with urban parks, providing valuable knowledge for decision-makers to unlock the full potential of these green havens for social cohesion and well-being.
City farmers’ collaborations for biodegradable wet waste processing
Improper solid waste management causes significant environmental damage. In India, solid waste management is a major challenge, particularly for urban local bodies. While larger cities have access to sufficient funds to provide solid waste management services, smaller cities with limited resources struggle to sustain financially viable solid waste management operations. Consequently, solid waste often ends up in landfills, contaminating the environment instead of being processed effectively. At the same time, the excessive use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture degrades soil health and further contaminates the environment.
Regaining public space for children: a locally developed parent-led play street in Paris
Play streets are gaining popularity around the world. In French cities, more and more residents and local associations wish to develop play streets. One-off play streets are especially popular to introduce residents to the concept of a play street. However, there is little research outlining the key contextual elements for developing long-term or recurring play streets; these confront different obstacles than one-off play streets and require different efforts from those developing the play street.
Developing a socio-environmental deprivation index for monitoring intra-urban health inequalities
Monitoring slum health through ecological deprivation indexes is a useful strategy to understand and reduce health inequalities within a city. We developed a robust socioenvironmental index capable of explaining health outcomes in small intraurban areas and differentiating areas with the presence of different slum typologies and non-slum spaces.
What are residents’ lived experiences of higher density living and impacts on health and wellbeing?
We conducted a citizen science project to engage with current residents in higher density residences in Northern Sydney to explore the positive and negative aspects of their lived experiences on their health and wellbeing. Together, we identified the elements that residents of these communities value as well as those with potential negative impacts that could be mitigated through good planning and design.
Addressing residents’ demands for more effective planning of socially sustainable neighbourhoods
Social sustainability entails improving quality of life by addressing basic human needs, promoting well-being, and creating supportive communities. Our approach prioritizes the inclusion of human needs in neighborhood design to enhance the overall quality of a neighborhood’s physical environment.
Heart-healthy neighbourhoods: An urban obesity index for planning and design
Living in modern cities can increase cardiovascular disease risk. This study analyzes the association between urban design and obesity, proposing a simplified index to assess how the built environment impacts heart health. Our “Urban-Obesity-Index” helps local authorities and planners design healthier neighbourhoods.