Research Links Urban Design and Human Happiness

The impact of urban design and architecture on the human psyche has been discussed by writers for decades, and, according to a piece by Thomas Heatherwick in Wired, planners and architects are starting to take note.

From the second half of the 20th century, pioneering thinkers such as American author and activist Jane Jacobs and Danish architect Jan Gehl began highlighting the inhuman way our cities were being shaped, with boring constructions, barren spaces and brutal expressways.

According to Heatherwick, planners and builders were long inconvenienced by the truths told by activists such as Jane Jacobs and Jan Gehl. “But the recent availability of sophisticated new brain-mapping and behavioral study techniques, such as using wearable devices that measure our body’s response to our surroundings, means it is getting much harder for the construction industry echo chamber to keep ignoring the responses of millions of people to the places it has created.”

Heatherwick explains how the study of “neuroarchitecture” has been growing around the world, with researchers understanding more about how the built environment affects how humans feel when navigating and existing in it. “Very soon, I believe, property developers may have to treat neuroscientific findings as key information to be weighed up alongside structural-load calculations, energy efficiency, lighting, and acoustics. And the person in the street will welcome this change.”