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Urban Built Environment and Mental Health
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Urban Built Environment and Mental Health

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 9911

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jane Law

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
2. School of Planning, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Interests: spatial epidemiology; healthy communities and the built environment; public health planning; environmental criminology; smart cities; spatial statistics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Henry Hui Luan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
Interests: Bayesian spatial and spatiotemporal modeling and its applications in exploring inequities of urban environmental exposures and their associations with health; spatiotemporal analysis; Bayesian statistics; GIScience; public health; crime
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Chris Perlman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Interests: shared-decision making; mental healthcare in long term care residents; suicide; addiction assessment; and predicting health service utilization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The burden of mental disorders continues to grow (WHO, 2019) and may be increasing as a result of the pandemic. No single definition of mental disorder or health is widely accepted. WHO (2011) defines mental health as “a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.” Studies have shown that the urban built environment (UBE) could have direct and indirect effects on mental health (MH). It is a general belief that MH can be promoted by creating a UBE that supports MH. 

This Special Issue aims to publish research about the UBE and MH with the ultimate goal of improving and promoting MH. We welcome a wide range of topics that address questions related to UBE and MH. Topics may include definitions and measurements of UBE and MH; design or modification of the UBE to improve MH; and methodologies or statistical models to study relationships between UBE and MH.

Dr. Jane Law
Dr. Henry Hui Luan
Dr. Chris Perlman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Urban built environmental determinants of mental health
  • GIS/spatial analysis/spatial epidemiology
  • Pollutants
  • Urban planning and land use
  • Socioeconomic and/or environmental factors
  • Substance use/addiction/mental illness
  • Neighbourhood effects
  • Health inequality
  • Violence/suicide/crime
  • Urban greenness

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 1338 KiB  
Article
A Study of the Impact of River Improvement and Greening on Public Reassurance and the Urban Well-Being Index during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Hsiao-Hsien Lin, I.-Yun Chen, Chih-Hung Tseng, Yueh-Shiu Lee and Jao-Chuan Lin
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(7), 3958; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19073958 - 26 Mar 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2503
Abstract
This study aims to investigate the effect of river improvement and greening projects on people and the urban happiness index. First, the quantitative method was adopted, and data collected from 734 questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 software. Then, the qualitative method was [...] Read more.
This study aims to investigate the effect of river improvement and greening projects on people and the urban happiness index. First, the quantitative method was adopted, and data collected from 734 questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 software. Then, the qualitative method was used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the opinions of 12 interviewees, including scholars, government employees, citizens, and practitioners. Finally, we discuss multiple comparison analysis testing. The survey results indicate that river improvement and greening projects could be conducted to take advantage of diverse ecological environments, urban transportation planning, and geographical location. Such projects can help people relieve stress, even during the COVID-19 pandemic; improve their physical and mental health; and enhance their environmental awareness. However, due to poor traffic flow, a low space utilization rate, and inflexible management practices, visiting these environments has posed a risk of infection. As a result, most respondents indicated that the leisure benefits of green fields are limited and not helpful for improving their physical and mental health or having fun. Additionally, survey responses by people from different backgrounds (p < 0.01) varied. Therefore, we believe that by providing a safe living environment, strengthening disaster prevention skills and cooperation against epidemics, reducing accident risks, improving leisure safety and fluency, and planning diverse leisure activities, we can improve people’s perception of environmental experiences, promote leisure participation, improve leisure satisfaction, and enhance well-being. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Built Environment and Mental Health)
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11 pages, 772 KiB  
Article
Effect of Housing Quality on the Mental Health of University Students during the COVID-19 Lockdown
by Alessandro Morganti, Andrea Brambilla, Andrea Aguglia, Andrea Amerio, Norberto Miletto, Nicolò Parodi, Chiara Porcelli, Anna Odone, Alessandra Costanza, Carlo Signorelli, Gianluca Serafini, Mario Amore and Stefano Capolongo
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(5), 2918; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052918 - 02 Mar 2022
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4164
Abstract
COVID-19 outbreak imposed rapid and severe public policies that consistently impacted the lifestyle habits and mental health of the general population. Despite vaccination, lockdown restrictions are still considered as potential measures to contrast COVID-19 variants spread in several countries. Recent studies have highlighted [...] Read more.
COVID-19 outbreak imposed rapid and severe public policies that consistently impacted the lifestyle habits and mental health of the general population. Despite vaccination, lockdown restrictions are still considered as potential measures to contrast COVID-19 variants spread in several countries. Recent studies have highlighted the impacts of lockdowns on the population’s mental health; however, the role of the indoor housing environment where people spent most of their time has rarely been considered. Data from 8177 undergraduate and graduate students were collected in a large, cross-sectional, web-based survey, submitted to a university in Northern Italy during the first lockdown period from 1 April to 1 May 2020. Logistic regression analysis showed significant associations between moderate and severe depression symptomatology (PHQ-9 scores ≥ 15), and houses with both poor indoor quality and small dimensions (OR = 4.132), either medium dimensions (OR = 3.249) or big dimensions (OR = 3.522). It was also found that, regardless of housing size, poor indoor quality is significantly associated with moderate–severe depressive symptomatology. Further studies are encouraged to explore the long-term impact of built environment parameter modifications on mental health, and therefore support housing and public health policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Built Environment and Mental Health)
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25 pages, 3790 KiB  
Article
Understanding the Differential Impact of Vegetation Measures on Modeling the Association between Vegetation and Psychotic and Non-Psychotic Disorders in Toronto, Canada
by Abu Yousuf Md Abdullah, Jane Law, Zahid A. Butt and Christopher M. Perlman
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(9), 4713; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094713 - 28 Apr 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2465
Abstract
Considerable debate exists on whether exposure to vegetation cover is associated with better mental health outcomes. Past studies could not accurately capture people’s exposure to surrounding vegetation and heavily relied on non-spatial models, where the spatial autocorrelation and latent covariates could not be [...] Read more.
Considerable debate exists on whether exposure to vegetation cover is associated with better mental health outcomes. Past studies could not accurately capture people’s exposure to surrounding vegetation and heavily relied on non-spatial models, where the spatial autocorrelation and latent covariates could not be adjusted. Therefore, a suite of five different vegetation measures was used to separately analyze the association between vegetation cover and the number of psychotic and non-psychotic disorder cases in the neighborhoods of Toronto, Canada. Three satellite-based and two area-based vegetation measures were used to analyze these associations using Poisson lognormal models under a Bayesian framework. Healthy vegetation cover was found to be negatively associated with both psychotic and non-psychotic disorders. Results suggest that the satellite-based indices, which can measure both the density and health of vegetation cover and are also adjusted for urban and environmental perturbations, could be better alternatives to simple ratio- and area-based measures for understanding the effect of vegetation on mental health. A strong dominance of spatially structured latent covariates was found in the models, highlighting the importance of adopting a spatial approach. This study can provide critical guidelines for selecting appropriate vegetation measures and developing spatial models for future population-based epidemiological research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Built Environment and Mental Health)
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