Philosophy of Neurourbanism
Urban Density and Mental Health
Urbanization is a global phenomenon and poses pressing health challenges as urban dwellers carry a high risk for mental ill-health. Social stress due to built or population density might play a major role here, yet interactions with other environmental and health risk factors are still poorly understood. At the same time, infrastructural density is also an advantage as it offers better access to urban resources. Furthermore, stressors and positively valenced urban factors are unequally distributed between different socioeconomic, ethnic, and migrant groups; as well as within cities and between global regions. As such, a field that explores those stressors from a cognitive science perspective — such as neurourbanism — holds a pivotal role in global health research. Neurourbanism explores the psychological, neuro-cognitive, social and environmental factors that moderate between urban density and mental health of city dwellers. As an empirically engaged philosopher, my aim is to reorganize the current state of knowledge in the interaction of built environment and the mind into an interdisciplinary approach by also integrating transdisciplinary perspectives into the research process. You can follow my research activities on this topic here: Research Platform Neurourbanism.
Architecture and Affordances
The concept of affordances (i.e., opportunities for action in the environment, Gibson, 1979) is already a psychological concept widely applied to architectural and urban disciplines and awaits extension to public health and medical sciences. An additional and often overlooked element are the role of aesthetic categories in affording behavior in architecture. I explore this concept with respect to wonder, interest, and beauty in urban and architectural contexts.
Urban Aesthetics
An often underappreciated issue is the beauty and fascination of architectuers and cities and the impact this has on how we act in our environment. We systematically explore the role of aesthetic variables on the human mind and behavior in several studies of the RPN.
Some History
Neurourbanism started as an interdisciplinary research group. One focus was the interaction of urban living and stress. Yet, from the very start, the group also had a broader focus, as can be seen by its early collaborators, among which were futurologists (Ludwig Engel), architects with a keen interest in public space, artists, as well as urban planners and architectural scholars. They interacted with neuroscientists, psychologists, and sociologists. As I understand it, neurourbanism is a field within the cognitive sciences that has the relation of urban conditions and human flourishing at its heart.
Your Emotional City!
In the Citizen Science project "Your Emotional City!" we want to discover how citizens feel, decipher the sensations at concrete streets, squares, neighborhoods and parks, and gain general insights into cities. Together we will find out what makes cities of the future places worth living in.
In addition to the app, there are new exchange formats in the project: Public workshops and events, where all actors can contribute perspectives and questions to the research project. Please refer to our Futurium website for more info.
Networkanalysis based on preliminary data that indicates that beauty and interestingness have the biggest impact on Happiness in our citizen scientists.
Stoops and Stairs
This is a passion project of mine, related to the role of stairs in public space, including the famous stoops in New Yorks residential neighborhoods (such as Harlem or Brooklyn). They are not just as architectural features but vibrant stages for the city's daily life. These structures serve as the threshold between the private life within buildings and the public life of the streets, embodying the city's unique blend of intimacy and openness.
My aims are twofold. First, I will collect samples of stairs and stoops in public and semi-public space and theorize on their roles in different contexts. Second, we have started setting up experiments on the role of stairs in the perception of public space that explore aesthetic categories, different stair heights and many more things, using eyetracking and EEG recordings.