That the space we live in is important for mental health is a fact. Gathering information from studies by institutes around the world, we know for sure that the lives of city dwellers are negatively affected by smog, air pollution, noise, but also by social isolation and stressful social situations. But can good urban planning reverse these trends and save our mental health?
Recently, streets have become deserted, and as a result, cities have cut back on lighting as a cost-saving measure. Increasingly, we don't feel safe on city streets, in public transportation, or even any public spaces. It's no longer just a fear of contracting the virus, but also a general discomfort with being out and about. Some city neighborhoods have been virtually shut down for almost a year. Due to the change in the work system, office buildings stand empty. Restaurants and other establishments remain closed. "Dead" areas of cities are causing anxiety. Stress in itself is not bad, but problems begin when the stress response does not "turn off." Prolonged isolation and the stressful situations we are exposed to during pandemics cause the stress hormone cortisol to stay high for longer periods of time, causing hypertension and weakening the immune system. People in cities have a 40 percent higher risk of developing depression, 20 percent higher risk of developing anxiety disorders.
In this era of pandemics, when prolonged stress and isolation accompany us on a daily basis, it is worth seriously considering what a space that promotes our mental health should look like....
Greenery irreplaceable
It is not a revelation that being in parks, forests and green squares promotes well-being. In the first half of 2020, they were put out of service to limit human congregations and prevent the spread of the virus... Our apartment houses then became traps rather than shelters. The winners were those who could afford to escape outside the city - to the countryside, a private summer house, or even an allotment garden. Having a terrace or even a balcony proved to be an advantage. Unequal access to green spaces has been fueled by the fact that there is a growing trend to privatize them and fence off park areas around modern apartment complexes. Developers are occupying ever-larger areas of parks, often with access to rivers or lakes, which they are effectively making impossible for "ordinary" walkers.
photo: thecityofyourname.org
Against the privatization of green spaces fought and will be fought by informed residents, but we will apparently have to wait a little longer for a transparent policy on the sale of plots of land....
Concrete love
Another problem is Polish concretosis. Years pass, and the love for concrete flooding cities is still alive. There are projects, appeals, ideas for meadows, sometimes you'd think it's almost good, but... After 2020, when we could realize how important green common spaces are, in December this year the city of Gdansk rejected a project to green the main artery cutting through the city center. And so in many cities... Warsaw's Mokotow district got rid of the "problem of dangerous trees" and left Zakrzewska Street "bare," and the gaps left by the trees, filled in with low-maintenance paving blocks.
Greenery not only directly improves well-being, but also contributes to reducing pollution. One of the key factors affecting the health of urban residents is smog, which we have been slowly fighting for years... With what results? There are still days and even weeks that smog level-conscious city dwellers prefer to stay at home rather than go out for "fresh" air. Fear of climate catastrophe is an increasingly common problem.
Pocket parks
For only the past four years, "pocket parks" have been gaining popularity in Poland. This trend started in Krakow, but its example of mini-parks, with an area of about 550 sq. m., was followed by other cities, including Warsaw, Gdansk, Torun and Lodz. Green spaces are usually created on the initiative of residents, and are financed by civic funds within individual neighborhoods. This year marks the end of the Wroclaw GrowGreen project, which involves the creation of several zones of microgreen systems, including pocket parks, green walls and a green street in neighborhoods with dense downtown buildings. The project involves not only improving the quality of life of residents in terms of reducing pollution, lowering temperatures. An important element of the project is the involvement of residents in its implementation from site selection, to co-design, to joint care of the greenery. This sense of community, getting to know neighbors, can affect the well-being of residents during isolation.
Visualization of the Grow Green Wrocław project | visualizations: Natalia Bańdo, Katarzyna Kobierska | Design: PPHU Dworniczak, TECLA
"Involving the community in the project planning process makes the residents identify with the change. They not only accept the new space arrangement, but care about it as a common good. Then such places belong to a given community that uses it, and the use itself is subject to certain rules of social behavior."- says Dr. Anita Basinska, sociologist (Chair of Design at School of Form, SWPS Poznań University), SWPS University press materials.
Visualization of the Grow Green Wrocław project | visuals: Natalia Bańdo, Katarzyna Kobierska | Design: PPHU Dworniczak, TECLA
Light and noise
Unable to escape the city, deprived of greenery, confined to four walls, doomed to work at home.... It's likely that eventually even the least sensitive have recognized the important aspects of space that affect mental health. The body and mind are also affected by noise or light smog. Sustainable light management takes into account light intensity, unfortunately not necessarily quality. As a result, more and more cities are turning off streetlights at night - reducing light pollution, favoring plants, animals and making it easier for residents to maintain their diurnal rhythm and health. Our well-being is also greatly influenced by color and power, something we often forget.
Acoustic standards are in place in European Union countries to ensure the comfort of residents. Unfortunately, in Poland most apartments were built before such restrictions were imposed, so noise levels are often outside any standards. For years, cities have been introducing policies to protect the environment from noise, providing residents with acoustic maps and analyzing potential solutions. But how do these city assumptions compare to the plans of developers? In the 2018 program, under "elements of acoustic protection in urban planning," listed, among other things, "eliminating unfavorable factors that amplify noise, such as large surfaces that reflect sound waves, such as concrete or paving stones" , "increasing green areas" and "siting buildings"... Are privatizing green areas, putting planning and siting buildings in the hands of developers, cutting down trees and concreting squares the solutions?
Bicycles are the future
It's not all that bad... We have to admit that a visible investment of Polish cities lately are bicycle paths and pedestrian routes. These help improve the air, reduce noise, but also encourage movement, and thus have a positive impact on mental health. In a coronavirus world, public transportation has lost popularity, and people confined to their homes, thirsty for movement, have eagerly shifted to bicycles. According to plans, a total of about 1,100 kilometers of bicycle routes are to be built in the Warsaw metropolitan area by 2023. It is not only the capital that is gearing up for change. Projects for new pedestrian and bicycle paths also boast Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Kielce... Cities are still looking for new solutions.
Photo: Futuwawa competition, authors of the project Mikolaj Molenda and Kama Wybieralska
Community
Public space is treated as a place for meetings, communication, dialogue between people. Streets, squares, parks, backyards, rooftops of buildings are areas where people can establish and maintain interpersonal relations.
A good example of a place conducive to meetings and communication between people is the design of the Courtyard of the City Hall in Poznań created by Atelier Starzak Strebicki, which turned from a parking lot for cars into an open, multifunctional square with trees and greenery, mobile seating, a bench around a flower bed, a watering can, a misting station and a bicycle repair station. The designer creates the city, gives it functions, introduces amenities i.e. a bench for mothers with small children, which has a baby changing station built in next to the seat, urban furniture placed in squares....
"Space is a social product i.e. it is constantly created, changed, transformed, and people do not so much live in it as create it by functioning in it. In its design from a sociological point of view, what is important is how people perceive it, what their needs, expectations and preferences are. When it is well suited to the requirements (including those unconscious) of the residents it will be used by them. An example is the design of a plaza inside a housing development, where there is a place for children to play, benches placed opposite each other and at the right distance to allow conversation and greenery providing shade, but also trash garbage cans placed at such a distance to encourage tidiness in this space." - says Dr. Anita Basinska sociologist from the Department of Design at School of Form, SWPS University in Poznan.
Run away?
It might seem that one should abandon urban life as soon as possible and move to the countryside. And that's probably what a lot of people have done this year, but let's remember that many factors affecting our mental health are within our control. Nowadays, the real space is competing with the online world, with a social life lived on social media, with Virtual Reality technology. Let's give it a chance in the new year. Good urban planning and conscious choices can help take care of our health and our resilience.
