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Johanna Stål
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Brain Research Aims to Make Future Cities Better to Live In
Can brain research be used to design and build cities in ways that improve human well-being? A major step forward is now being taken in the fields of neuroarchitecture and neurodesign, which could help make cities around the world healthier places to live in.
Global urbanization is spreading across large parts of the world. By 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in urban environments, according to forecasts from the WHO. At the same time, there are growing concerns that mental health issues are increasing in tandem with urbanization. In addition to affecting many individuals, this also poses a significant challenge to the global economy.
Urban Environments Are Extremely Complex for the Brain
The connection between urbanization and health issues is nothing new to Isabelle Sjövall, brain researcher and neurodesigner at the top-ranked University College London (UCL), a frequently consulted expert in the real estate industry, and senior researcher at RISE:
- An urban environment is an extremely complex setting for the brain, which can accumulate and create a significant cognitive load on the nervous system. This can involve everything from crowds, noise, and traffic hazards to various types of smells, she says.
Today, there is a lack of understanding about how humans are affected — both physically and mentally — by the overwhelming sensory input that urban environments generate.
According to Isabelle Sjövall, neuroarchitecture and neurodesign (NA/ND) (see fact box) can significantly improve quality of life in cities by designing offices, schools, healthcare facilities, and city centers based on human behaviors, needs, and emotions.
- We may feel better when exposed to certain materials, color schemes, lighting, or patterns, and balancing all these impressions can lead to more effective recovery, she explains.
General initiatives of this kind can also be tailored to the individual level through so-called precision health — a term for a new, personalized approach in healthcare — and environments designed to support specific needs or functions, such as creativity or healing.
- With new knowledge, we can work more proactively in the future with preventive and health-promoting measures in urban development — especially with the help of AI and digital tools — which will be a key piece of the puzzle in promoting public health on a global scale.
By building cities based on the latest research, we stand to gain a great deal, including reduced healthcare costs.
More research is needed
If cities are built based on this new research, society could save vast amounts of money. However, to reach that point, more research is needed to provide scientific evidence identifying exactly what affects us in built and urban environments — and how the combined impact of all these factors plays out.
Isabelle Sjövall emphasizes that more research-based knowledge is especially needed on which factors can make us more resilient to stress in urban environments. It’s not possible to completely shield people from things that may trigger stress responses, but it is possible to improve urban environments using so-called resilience factors. And here, everyone involved in constructing, designing, or furnishing urban spaces needs concrete data on what can counteract stress and what needs to be added to create better balance.
For example, the connection to nature has proven to be extremely important for brain health, which is why so-called green and blue spaces are vital in urban settings.
- Working with access to areas with water and using so-called biophilic design — in other words, recreating the feeling of nature — is one way to bring our original environment into the cities, she says.
New Technology Brings New Opportunities
Research is now entering an exciting phase, thanks to technological advancements.
With mobile equipment that scans brain activity, it is now possible to measure people’s physical and psychological reactions in real time as they move through different urban environments. Using scanners, biomarkers, and MRI — a type of modern magnetic imaging — researchers can gather comparable data, such as how people respond to different types of sounds, lighting, materials, colors, or scents.
The data from these tests is a crucial tool for taking the research to the next level. The goal is not to stop at isolated research reports, but to apply this knowledge in society in a meaningful way — to make a large-scale difference.
Collaboration Is Key to Bringing Research into the Real World
In May 2024, a partnership was launched between RISE and UCL to advance the fields of neurodesign and neuroarchitecture. UCL’s world-leading laboratories — such as PEARL— offer an exceptional testbed for large-scale, high-precision studies. This new knowledge provides opportunities to strengthen business strategies and increase the value of properties and buildings when they are developed using principles from neuroarchitecture and neurodesign. Insights from the research can also help future investors make more informed decisions.
- By building cities based on the latest research, we stand to gain a great deal, including reduced healthcare costs. The partnership between RISE and UCL is something entirely new, and we complement each other perfectly. UCL brings the technology and lab environment, while we at RISE specialize in applying research into the society, says Marco Lucisano, Head of the Built Environment Division at RISE.
- Collaboration with architects, engineers, interior designers, construction companies, and urban planners will be essential to scale up solutions, implement them, and evaluate their impact. This way, the knowledge can help guide investment decisions and contribute to a sustainable societal transformation, Lucisano concludes.
The partnership between UCL and RISE also includes Prof Hugo Spiers, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Behavioral Neuroscience, and Vice Dean of Enterprise & Innovation Faculty of Brain Sciences, UCL, and Dr Fiona Zisch, Associate Professor in Architecture, Programme Director of Design for Performance and Interaction MArch, The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.
What are neuroarchitecture and neurodesign?
Neuroarchitecture and neurodesign involve the scientific study of how the brain responds to built environments, as well as how design and architecture affect people psychologically and physiologically in relation to cognition, mental health, and well-being. This knowledge about what promotes human well-being can then be applied to improve environments such as cities, buildings, healthcare facilities, schools, or offices.
