What is the role of urban environment in the citizens' mental health? Learning from the published studies in Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate in Urban Planning & Design, Department of Urban Planning & Design, Faculty of Art & Architecture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

2 Ph.D. in Urbanism, Department of Urban Planning, Faculty of Architecture & Urbanism, Art University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

Abstract

Understanding and achieving a deeper perception of urban environments as components of a city's structure in adaptation to psychological effects can create urban spaces with desirable environmental quality and citizens' mental health. A deep look at the studies conducted by conducting a systematic review will largely consolidate the domestic literature in this field and clarify its continuation. This study aims to review domestic-related research in terms of urban environments and mental health based on the systematic review method and quantitative and qualitative content analysis. After reviewing the research in scientific databases related to urban studies and eliminating and monitoring articles through the PRISMA process, 43 studies were selected, and their content has been reviewed and analyzed in terms of time, journal, study origin, type of scale of the study space, research method and approach, keywords, focus of study objectives, and research findings. The results show that; Over time, concerns about mental health in urban environments have increased, and the weakness of using repetitive methods and tools in domestic research is evident; therefore, the combined application of quantitative-qualitative approaches can lead to more efficient results in subject literature. Qualitative findings also indicate that the objectives of the selected studies are mainly focused on the study category of environmental dimensions and quality, urban green landscape, and physical-spatial components concerning mental health. The mental health of individuals is affected by two environmental aspects (Physical, Social, Functional, Perceptual-Visual, Ecological, Access, Safety and Security, and Economic dimensions) and the individual. Among them, the perceptual-visual dimension has the greatest diversity of indicators after the individual component in the research. After these two dimensions, the Physical, Social, Functional, and Ecological dimensions were placed, and the Accessibility, Safety, Security, and Economic dimensions were used in the final positions, respectively, due to the multitude of indicators.

Highlights

- The objectives of the selected research are mainly focused on the study category of environmental dimensions and quality, urban green landscape, and physical-spatial components concerning mental health.

- The mental health of individuals is affected by two environmental aspects (physical, social, functional, perceptual-visual, environmental, accessibility, safety and security, and economic) and individual.

- The weakness of using repetitive methods and tools in domestic research and sometimes the lack of compliance with the requirements of the correct research structure is evident in some of them.

Keywords

References

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Iranian Urban Design Studies
Volume 1, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
September 2024
Pages 257-284

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History

  • Receive Date: 22 July 2024
  • Revise Date: 05 August 2024
  • Accept Date: 15 August 2024
  • First Publish Date: 16 September 2024
  • Publish Date: 16 September 2024

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