Articles in neuro-architecture and neuro-design

A new pilot project will show how brain research can contribute to creating cities that support public health. By integrating knowledge about the brain into urban planning, researchers aim to develop environments that reduce stress and enhance wellbeing. Fridhemsplan in Stockholm, Sweden, is the first living laboratory — with the goal of providing urban planners with scientific support to design urban environments that promote health.

We spend more than 90 per cent of our lives indoors, yet the spaces around us are seldom evaluated through a brain health lens. The new Building Brains Coalition report highlights a growing scientific consensus: urban form, building design, light, acoustics, and spatial configuration all influence how our brains regulate stress, process emotions, and perform cognitive tasks.

Sweden's long-term competitiveness is determined not only by capital and technology — but also by people's cognitive capacity. In the emerging Brain Economy movement, our brain health is described as a critical key resource in the modern economy. Could that perspective change how we build our cities?

What if the buildings around us are quietly reshaping our minds? RISE researchers have developed a groundbreaking framework proposing that our built environments might fundamentally influence brain function.

We spend more than 90 percent of our lives indoors. But what if the very buildings designed to protect us are quietly undermining our health? Emerging research, within the field of neuroarchitecture and neurodesig, suggests that certain architectural features – from narrow hallways to windowless rooms – may trigger subtle but chronic stress responses that, over time, could contribute to serious illness.

What if the places we live and work in could affect more than just our moods — what if they could influence the very health of our brains? This is the question driving Cleo Valentine, Senior Researcher and Innovation Lead at RISE, and PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge. Her research sits at the crossroads of architecture, neuroscience, and immunology, in the emerging field of neuroarchitecture.

A groundbreaking index in the emerging field of neurodesign and neuroarchitecture could transform the way we plan and invest in our cities, schools, and workplaces. Drawing on brain science and AI, researchers can now measure how physical environments influence our health, cognition, and overall wellbeing – with the ambition to set a new global standard for the built environments of tomorrow.

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.