Optimizing Living Environments for Mental Health

Dear Colleagues,

With the acceleration of the pace of urban life and the prominence of various urban problems (including environmental pollution, social inequality, adverse health consequences, etc.), more and more people are suffering from increased stress, emotional loss, decreased attention, anxiety, depression and other mental illness risks. People's mental health problems have also attracted increasing attention from researchers, government agencies and the public. The built environment can affect the mental health of users to a certain extent. In the development and optimization of buildings, the environment construction based on human health is an important measure to improve the living environment and promote the high-quality development of the built environment. At present, the measurement methods for mental health are constantly being updated, and various wearable portable EEG devices can record the changes in individual physiological indicators in real time. The emergence of new data and machine learning algorithms has also provided more refined, comprehensive databases and diverse empirical cases for built environment research. Therefore, this Special Issue “Optimizing Living Environments for Mental Health” will focus on the relationship between the living environment and human mental health, outline new methods for measuring environmental and psychological indicators, and propose environmental optimization strategies for promoting mental health. We hope to promote interdisciplinary dialogue between architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, social sciences, and computer science.

The objective of this Special Issue is to solicit high-standard literature reviews, original theory, experimental work, case studies, and comprehensive review papers. Relevant topics to this Special Issue include but are not limited to the following subjects:

(1) The relationship and influence path between living environments and mental health;

(2) Environmental strategies that promote mental health;

(3) Mental health assessment of living environments;

(4) The relationship between built environment characteristics, human perception, behavioral activities and mental health.

Dr. Xiaohuan Xie
Dr. Ling Zhang
Dr. Yiqi Tao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• mental health
• behavioral activity
• human perception
• living environment
• built environment
• environmental quality
• environmental justice
• health promotion strategy
• design and evaluation of intervention strategies
• interdisciplinary research