Is City Living Bad for You?
By Sam R on May 12, 2015
According to the World Health Organization, more than half (54%) of the world’s population already lives in urban areas, with that number expected to increase to closer to 70% by 2050, though there is mounting evidence that city living isn’t good for us. And yet …
It’s a complex issue. We have urban migration to thank for the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. City dwellers are wealthier on average, and healthier, with access to better food and health care. But some psychologists say that urbanites are more prone to anxiety and depression, and those raised in the city are dramatically more likely to become schizophrenic. According to Scientific American, children born in cities face up to two or three times the chance of developing serious emotional disorders.
And yet … the journal Nature in 2011 published research that claimed the very brains of urban and rural dwellers respond differently to stress, with those who grew up or currently live in the city showing increased activation in areas of the brain responsible for processing negative emotions.
And yet … A German researcher named Mazda Adli says that those experiencing the seemingly paradoxical situation of urban loneliness are most susceptible to adverse reactions. “In my view, if social density and social isolation come at the same time and hit high-risk individuals … city-stress-related mental illness can be the consequence,” she told London’s The Guardian.
Most of us manage to enjoy our urban environment without losing it like the Michael Douglas character in Falling Down, and in a well-planned city, there are factors at work to help offset both the duality of urban loneliness and the effects of feeling overcrowded, as well as the disconnection from nature that can be a stress contributor.
In the Association for Psychological Science journal, Psychological Science, researchers reported that those living in greener areas reported less mental distress and higher life satisfaction, which makes a great case for the urban parks and green spaces that are so plentiful in Toronto.
“Living in an urban area with relatively high levels of green space compared to one with relatively low levels of green space was associated with a positive impact on well-being equivalent to roughly a third of the impact of being married vs. unmarried and a tenth of the impact of being employed vs. unemployed,” said Mathew White of the University of Exeter Medical School.
While previous research was unable to distinguish whether those living near green spaces were happier or whether happy people had a tendency to move near green spaces, this research used longitudinal data from a national survey of more than 10,000 people between 1991 and 2008. According to Psychological Science, experimental studies have shown that even short bouts in a green space can improve both mood and cognitive functioning, another criticism levelled at city-dwellers — some research shows that they have poorer memories.
Of course the biggest factors that can affect your well-being, both physical and emotional, when living in a city are other people. Chicago neuroscientist John Cacioppo in his book, Loneliness, says that being lonely is associated with a 14% higher risk of early death, twice that associated with obesity, according to The Guardian. He says chronic loneliness is what encourages us to come to the cities in the first place, and that we need to connect to survive. Good public spaces, like our Distillery District, are safe, open places where we can be together. (Just walking is good for your brain — children who bike or walk to school have been shown to have better concentration right up to lunchtime.)
The great Jane Jacobs can say it better than I ever could: “The individual dancers and ensembles all have distinctive parts which miraculously reinforce each other and compose an orderly whole. The ballet of the good city sidewalk never repeats itself from place to place, and in any one place is always replete with improvisations.”
Put like that, even with its potential for problems for some, why would you live anywhere else?
Feature image via Minto for Minto Yorkville
