There are myriad ways to think about a city. But can a city think about us? A conscious city has the potential to improve your health.

1. Can Urban Design Create
Smarter, Kinder Cities?
a presentation by
Bennat Berger

2. But can a city
think about us?
There are myriad ways
to think about a city.

3. “The foundation of
consciousness lies in the
city’s awareness of the
motives, personalities and
moods of its inhabitants,”
write architect Itai Palti
and neuroscientist
Professor Moshe Bar.
A conscious city affects
how you feel and what
you do, with the potential
to improve or worsen
your health, comfort, and
wellbeing.

4. Though there was a brief period in the 70s when
psychologists teamed up with architects in an effort to
encourage “environmental psychology,” for the most part,
today’s streets and buildings are planned for pure efficiency.

5. As urban populations surge, the first instinct of builders and
planners is often to save and make space, but considering the
well-documented psychological effects of overcrowding, new
science is needed, to plan for happy, healthy cities.

6. How Our Cities Change Us

7. Walking a group of subjects past the
smoked glass exterior of a Whole Foods
store in Lower Manhattan caused their
mood to worsen—and they sped up as
if to escape a dead zone, then returned
to a better mood when they
encountered more inviting storefronts.
Social psychologist Colin Ellard
conducted a study using EEG
headsets and wristbands to study the
physical reaction participants had to
architectural facades.

8. Other urban environmental
concerns include flashing lights
and advertisements, which can
induce anxiety and interrupt
natural sleep cycles, and
repetitive patterns like stripes and
tiles, which can cause migraines
or seizures.
On a social level, the
placement of public
transportation and
highway systems have
led to segregation and
poverty.

9. Planning for the Future

10. Studies have shown that the simple act of viewing green
space can cause a change in city dwellers’ physiology, and
that more natural and visually interesting shapes and
spaces can ease stress.

11. The health and
psychological benefits
of planting more trees
in cities are well
established; new growth
could save lives
shortened by pollution
and heat waves.
Green spaces
consistently
correlate with
higher levels of
mental well-
being in cities.

12. Research has shown that even
simulated green space can
have beneficial effects on
city-dwellers.
Neuroscience-based
architecture might one day
use virtual reality to simulate
the human response to new
structures before
construction begins—giving
urban planners a powerful
tool to design happier,
healthier environments, and
ultimately, the foundation for
a more productive economy.

13. Thanks!
For urban planning articles, news and more,
visit my blog at www.BennatBerger.net