We need to understand how cities shape us psychologically if we are to improve inhabitants’ well-being and create more efficient, sustainable ways of urban living.
If Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man had a sequel, it would be an urban edition. The global rise in city living is so staggering that we must now accept one simple point with myriad, complex implications: the future success of our species is intimately linked to that of our cities. Yet, as Danish architect Jan Gehl put it, “We definitely know more about good habitats for mountain gorillas, Siberian tigers or panda bears than we do about a good urban habitat for Homo sapiens.” This is particularly the case for the emotional and mental health impacts of city living.
Moving to the city
The figures tell the story: according to the UN, more than half the world now live in urban areas. This will rise to 70% by 2050, and in the UK about 80% of the population already live in cities. But, in evolutionary terms, cities are very new. Modern humans have been around for 200,000 years or so, cities at most 10,000. So, of the estimated 108 billion people that have ever existed (according to the Population Reference Bureau), only a small percentage have lived in a city, and those only recently.
While we are a highly adaptable species, there are limits. We have evolved to best suit our environments over millennia, but the rapid pace of change of the past few centuries has placed strains on our adaptability. For example, living in cities promotes a linear, sped up experience of time. German philosopher and psychiatrist Thomas Fuchs linked this with depression and anxiety, suggesting that it is out of step not only with the cyclical and circadian rhythms of the body, but also an older, deeply ingrained experience of time that is linked to seasonal cycles.
Continue reading
No comments:
Post a Comment