Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Mental health guardianship has become a defining urban subject in the modern discussion, along with the rapid increase in urbanisation processes worldwide. The latest conceptualisations of urban resilience, therefore, require the combination of spatial planning aspects and psychological views. In this review, the analytical discussion of three key spatial strategies is provided, and each of them is discussed based on the case study placed in different geographic conditions. The therapeutic gardens in Singapore are interwoven across the metropolis as part of the City in Nature vision; the green areas play a crucial psychological role, dampening the stress levels that the high-density urban areas have on people. The conceptualisation of street space in Barcelona is converted into social space in which interpersonal relations can convert urban solitude into the connectivity of the community. In Seoul, the issue of generational isolation is simplified to a particular case by the creation of intergenerational community centres, whereby interpersonal relationships are developed organically through communal events, like joint cooking. The cases of Singapore, Barcelona, and Seoul all show that they have adaptive, as opposed to fixed, structural patterns; that their success is tied to the fact that they are constantly localized in order to respond to changing communal needs. However, there is a clear way forward in all three instances. Intentional city planning has great potential in redefining the dynamics of cities, thus allowing urban centers to move away as the main source of stress and move towards becoming strong pillars that sustain the health and well-being of people in their jurisdiction. The future success of urban development is absolutely impossible without such transformation.
Author: Rongqian Liu
Institutions: Stony Brook School, Stony Brook University
Language: English
Topic: Urban Green Space and Health
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7202387799