Investigating the Factors Affecting Urban Stress in World Literature

Document Type : Independent Research Articles

Authors

1 M.A. Student, Department of Urban Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Environmental Design, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

2 Professor, Department of Urban Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Environmental Design, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Urban Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Environmental Design, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Urban residents are exposed to high levels of stressors and this exposure is the cause of the prevalence of their mental illness. Nevertheless, despite the importance of mental health and urban stress, few studies have been focused on the potential links between environmental aspects and mental health, and there has been a lack of research on urban stressors. It is of high importance, however, to focus on the characteristics of the urban context affecting this issue and reduce them in the development of urban planning and design of stress therapists. For this purpose, this study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting urban stress, expressed in related documents and research. A systematic review of theoretical foundations has been done for data collection and a content analysis method has been applied for data analysis. Findings indicate that urban stress is mostly due to social stressors such as population density (very high or very low), social isolation, social deprivation, and poor social interactions, as well as environmental stressors such as noise pollution and air pollution. Following these ones, job insecurity and unemployment, injustice in the city, high traffic density, lack of green space and poor access to it, lack of adequate educational opportunities, low quality housing, ethnic or group minority and economic and social status are the next important factors. As a result, high stress in cities, compared to rural areas, is due to social and environmental factors. Thus, policy makers, planners, designers and architects should identify the stressors and reduce them in the urban environment.

Keywords

References

Abrahamyan Empson, L.; Baumann, P. S.; Söderström, O.; Codeluppi, Z.; Söderström, D.; Conus, P. (2019). Urbanicity: The need for new avenues to explore the link between urban living and psychosis. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, eip.12861–. Doi:10.1111/eip.12861. 
Adli, M. (2011). Urban stress and mental health, CITIES, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING HONG KONG, NOVEMBER 2011.
Adli, M.; Schondorf, J. (2020). Macht uns die Stadt krank. Wirkung von Stadtstress auf Emotionen, Verhalten und psychische Gesundheit; Does the city make us ill? The effect of urban stress on emotions, behavior, and mental health. Bundesgesundheitsbl 63, 979–986. Doi: 10.1007/s00103-020-03185-w 
Adli, M; Berger, M; Brakemeier, E.-L; Engel, L; Fingerhut, J; Hehl, R; Heinz, A; Mayer, J; Mehran, N; Tolaas, S; Walter, H; Weiland, U; Stollmann, J. (2016). Neurourbanistik – ein methodischer Schulterschluss zwischen Stadtplanung und Neurowissenschaften. Die Psychiatrie 2016; 13: 70–78. Downloaded from www.die-psychiatrie-online.de on 2017-03-12 | ID: 1001077299 | IP: 141.30.247.98.
Alan Biro (1996). Culture of Social Sciences. Translated by Bagher Sarokhani, Tehran: Kayhan Publications. (in Persian).
Amiri, M. Zulfiqarzadeh, M. Ziari, K. Ashtari, H. (2019). Literature Systematic Review Method Implementation in Dimensions, Components and Indicators Identification of the Creative City. Geography Researches of Urban Planning, 7(4), 701-722 (in Persian).
Amiri, M., Vedadhir, A. (2017). Stigma and Discrimination: Two Vital Social Oppressions Influencing on Disclosure of HIV Status by Patients with HIV / AIDS. Journal of Social Problems of Iran, 8(2), 1-23. doi: 10.22059/ijsp.2018.65051(in Persian).
Baum; A. S.; Jerome E.  Baum; C. S. (1981). Stress and the Environment, 37(1), 4–35. Doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1981.tb01056.x. 
Baumann, P. S.; Söderström, O.; Abrahamyan Empson, L.; Söderström, D.; Codeluppi, Z.; Golay, P.; Birchwood, M.; Conus, P. (2019). Urban remediation: a new recovery-oriented strategy to manage urban stress after first-episode psychosis. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, (), –. Doi:10.1007/s00127-019-01795-7. 
Beil, K.; Hanes, D. (2013). "The Influence of Urban Natural and Built Environments on Physiological and Psychological Measures of Stress— A Pilot Study" Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 10, no. 4: 1250-1267. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10041250.
Budat, Y. Maroufi, M. (2017). The effect of cultural and economic capitals on social distinction: with emphasis on luxury car ownership. Social Welfare, 17(65), 139-172. (in Persian).
Burton, I. (1990) "Factors in Urban Stress,"The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 17: Iss. 1, Article 5. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol17/iss1/5.
Buttazzoni A, Doherty S, Minaker L. How Do Urban Environments Affect Young People's Mental Health? A Novel Conceptual Framework to Bridge Public Health, Planning, and Neurourbanism. Public Health Rep. (2021) Feb 9:33354920982088. doi: 10.1177/0033354920982088. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33563094.
Cappon, D. (1977) Urban stress, CMA JOURNAL/JANUARY 8, 1977/VOL. 116.
Caracci, G; Enrique, M. J. (2001). CULTURE AND URBAN MENTAL HEALTH. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 24(3), 581–593. doi:10.1016/S0193-953X(05)70249-5 .
Chalabi, M. Amir Kafi, M. (2004). Multilevel Analysis of Social Isolation. Iranian Journal of Sociology, 5(2), 3-31. (in Persian).
Chinomnso C NNEBUE1, Echendu D ADINMA2, Queencallista N. (2014). Urbanization and Health, Orient Journal of Medicine, Vol 26 [1-2].
D’Acci, L.S. (2020). Urbanicity mental costs valuation: a review and urban-societal planning consideration. Mind Soc 19, 223–235. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-020-00235-3.
Ebadollahi, H., Piri, A., Movaghar Narbin, M. (2012). Stigma and Social Identity: The Case of Individuals with Visible Physical Disabilities in Rasht. Journal of Social Problems of Iran, 2(5-6), 195-222. (in Persian).
Elsamahy, E. M. & Abd EL-Fattah, R. (2018). DESIGNING NON-STRESSED PSYCHOLOGICAL PUBLIC SPACES, BAU Journal: Health & Well-Being, special edition, 121-132.
Evans, B. E., van der Ende, J., Greaves-Lord, K. et al. (2020a). Urbanicity, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning, and behavioral and emotional problems in children: a path analysis. BMC Psychol 8, 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-019-0364-2 .
Evans, B. E.; Buil, J. M.; Burk, W. J.; Cillessen, A. H. N.; van Lier, Pol A. C. (2018). Urbanicity is Associated with Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Elementary School-Aged Children. Journal of Child and Family Studies, (), –. Doi:10.1007/s10826-018-1062z. 
Evans, B. E.; Huizink, Anja C.; Greaves-Lord, Kirstin; Tulen, Joke H. M.; Roelofs, Karin; van der Ende, Jan; Santana, Geilson Lima (2020b). Urbanicity, biological stress system functioning and mental health in adolescents. PLOS ONE, 15(3), e0228659–. Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0228659.
Evans, G. W.; Wells, N. M.; Moch, A. (2003). Housing and Mental Health: A Review of the Evidence and a Methodological and Conceptual Critique., 59(3), 475–500. doi:10.1111/1540-4560.00074. 
Faris, R. E. L., & Dunham, H. W. (1939). Mental disorders in urban areas: an ecological study of schizophrenia and other psychoses. Univ. Chicago Press.
Franz, G.; Wiener, J. M (2008). From space syntax to space semantics: a behaviorally and perceptually oriented methodology for the efficient description of the geometry and topology of environments. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 35(4), 574–592. doi:10.1068/b33050. 
Generaal, E.; Hoogendijk, E. O.; Stam, M.; Henke, C. E.; Rutters, F.; Oosterman, M.; Huisman, M.; Kramer, S. E.; Elders, P. J. M.; Timmermans, E. J.; Lakerveld, J.; Koomen, E.; ten Have, M.; de Graaf, R.; Snijder, M. B.; Stronks, K.; Willemsen, G.; Boomsma, D. I.; Smit, J. H.; Penninx, B. W. J. H. (2019). Neighbourhood characteristics, prevalence, and severity of depression: pooled analysis of eight Dutch cohort studies. The British Journal of Psychiatry, (), 1–8. doi:10.1192/bjp.2019.100. 
Gruebner O, Rapp MA, Adli M, Kluge U, Galea S, Heinz A. (2017). Cities and mental health. Dtsch Arztebl Int; 114: 121–7. DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2017.0121 .
Hammel, D.J. (2009). International Encyclopedia of Human Geography || Gentrification., (), 360–367. doi:10.1016/b978-008044910-4.01051-8.
Helbich, M. (2018). Toward dynamic urban environmental exposure assessments in mental health research. Environmental Research, 161(), 129–135. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2017.11.006.
Hill T.D., Maimon D. (2013) Neighborhood Context and Mental Health. In: Aneshensel C.S., Phelan J.C., Bierman A. (Eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4276-5_23.
Iman, M. Noshadi, M. (2011). Qualitative Content Analysis. Research in Humanities, 3(2), 15-44, (in Persian).
Interdisciplinary Forum Neurourbanism. (2018). Charta of Neurourbanism. Retrieved 23 September 2021, from https://neurourbanistik.de.
Jaffee, K. D.; Liu, G. C.; Canty-Mitchell, J.; Qi, R. A.; Austin, J.; Swigonski, N. (2005). Race, Urban Community Stressors, and Behavioral and Emotional Problems of Children with Special Health Care Needs. Psychiatric Services, 56(1), 63–69. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.56.1.63. 
Joshua, C. F.; Freeman, C.; Bazargan-Hejazi, S. (2019). Environmental Interventions for Physical and Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities for Greater Los Angeles. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(12), 2180–. Doi:10.3390/ijerph16122180. 
Kennedy, D. P.; Adolphs, R. (2011). Social neuroscience: Stress and the city. Nature, 474(7352), 452–453. Doi:10.1038/474452a.
Kirkbride, J. B.; Keyes, K. M.; Susser, E. (2018). City Living and Psychotic Disorders-Implications of Global Heterogeneity for Theory Development. JAMA Psychiatry. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.2640. 
Knöll, M.; Neuheuser, K.; Cleff, T.; Rudolph-Cleff, A. (2017). A tool to predict perceived urban stress in open public spaces. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, Doi:10.1177/0265813516686971.
Knöll, M.; Neuheuser, K.; Vogt, J.; Rudolph-Cleff, A. (2014). Einflussfaktoren der gebauten Umwelt auf wahrgenommene Aufenthaltsqualität bei der Nutzung städtischer Räume. Umweltpsychologie, 18, 84–102. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270759025.
Lahsayeezadeh, A., Khajeh Noori, B. (2004). A critical study of the views of functionalists on social differentiation. Journal Of Social Sciences, 1(3), -. doi: 10.22067/jss.v0i0.3077(in Persian).
Larcombe, D.; Etten, J.; Logan, A.; Prescott, S; Horwitz, P. (2019). High-Rise Apartments and Urban Mental Health-Historical and Contemporary Views. Challenges, 10(2), 34–. Doi: 10.3390/challe10020034 .
Lederbogen, F., Kirsch, P., Haddad, L. et al. (2011). City living and urban upbringing affect neural social stress processing in humans. Nature 474, 498–501.
Lederbogen, Florian; Haddad, Leila; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas (2013). Urban social stress – Risk factor for mental disorders. The case of schizophrenia. Environmental Pollution, 183(), 2–6. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2013.05.046. 
Li, J., & Rose, N. (2017). Urban social exclusion and mental health of China’s rural-urban migrants – A review and call for research. Health & Place, 48, 20–30. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.08.009 
Li, J.; Liu, Z. (2018). Housing stress and mental health of migrant populations in urban China. Cities, (), S0264275117313355–.  doi:10.1016/j.cities.2018.04.006 .
Lin, D.; Li, X.; Bo W.; Yan H.; Xiaoyi  F.; Xiong Q.; Bonita S. (2011). Discrimination, Perceived Social Inequity, and Mental Health Among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China, 47(2), 171–180. doi:10.1007/s10597-009-9278-4 .
Lisa, R.; Ash, A.; (2019). Mental health, subjectivity and the city: an ethnography of migrant stress in Shanghai. International Health, (), ihz029–. doi:10.1093/inthealth/ihz029.
Litman, T.A. (2021). Urban Sanity Understanding Urban Mental Health Impacts and How to Create Saner, Happier Cities. https://vtpi.org/urban-sanity.pdf.
Lloyd, S.; Kelly, R.; Kimberly, G.; Joshua, R.; (2005). Challenges of Urban Mental Health Disaster Planning. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 10(3), 695–706. Doi:10.1300/J146v10n03_03.
Manning, N. (2018). Sociology, biology and mechanisms in urban mental health. Social Theory & Health, (17), 1-22, –. Doi:10.1057/s41285-018-00085-7. 
Mansour Mahani, S. (2015). The impact of social interactions on architecture and urban public space, annual conference on architectural research, urban planning and urban management. Volume 1 (in Persian).
March, D.; Hatch, S. L.; Morgan, C.; Kirkbride, J. B.; Bresnahan, M.; Fearon, P.; Susser, E. (2008). Psychosis and Place. Epidemiologic Reviews, 30(1), 84–100. doi:10.1093/epirev/mxn006. 
Maureen O., (CNN). (2017). Revealed: The world's least stressful cities. Retrieved 15 September 2021, from https://edition.cnn.com.
Meloni, A., Fornara, F., & Carrus, G. (2019). Predicting pro-environmental behaviors in the urban context: The direct or moderated effect of urban stress, city identity, and worldviews. Cities, 88, 83–90. Doi:10.1016/j.cities.2019.01.001.
Miles, R.; Coutts, C.; Mohamadi, A. (2012). Neighborhood Urban Form, Social Environment, and Depression. , 89(1), 1–18. Doi:10.1007/s11524-011-9621-2 .
Miller, K. M.; Phillips, M. H. (2005). Correlates of Urban Stress and Mental Health: The Impact of Social Context on Resilience. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 14(1-2), 46–64. Doi:10.1179/105307805807066301 .
Mubi Brighenti, A.; Pavoni, A. (2017). City of unpleasant feelings. Stress, comfort and animosity in urban life. Social & Cultural Geography, (), 1–20. doi:10.1080/14649365.2017.1355065.
Peen, J.; Schoevers, R. A.; Beekman, A. T.; Dekker, J. (2010). The current status of urban-rural differences in psychiatric disorders. , 121(2), 84–93. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.2009.01438.x. 
Prindle. R. A. (1968). Health Aspects of the Urban Environment. Public Health Reports (1896-1970), 83(7), 617-621. Doi:10.2307/4593367.
Pykett, J., Chrisinger, B., Kyriakou, K. et al. Developing a Citizen Social Science approach to understand urban stress and promote wellbeing in urban communities. Palgrave Commun 6, 85 (2020a). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0460-1.
Pykett, J.; Osborne, T.; Resch, B. (2020b). From Urban Stress to Neurourbanism: How Should We Research City Well-Being?. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, (), 1–16. Doi:10.1080/24694452.2020.1736982. 
Quinn, K.; Kaufman, J. S.; Siddiqi, A.; Yeatts, K. B. (2010). Stress and the City: Housing Stressors are Associated with Respiratory Health among Low Socioeconomic Status Chicago Children. , 87(4), 688–702. doi:10.1007/s11524-010-9465-1. 
Reynolds, L. K.; O'Koon, J. H.; Papademetriou, E.; Szczygiel, S.; Grant, K. E. (2001). Stress and Somatic Complaints in Low-Income Urban Adolescents., 30(4), 499–514. Doi:10.1023/a:1010401417828.
Rishi, P.; Khuntia, G. (2012). Urban Environmental Stress and Behavioral Adaptation in Bhopal City of India. Urban Studies Research, 2012(), 1–9. doi:10.1155/2012/635061.
Scheydt, S.; Müller Staub, M.; Frauenfelder, F.; Nielsen, G. H.; Behrens, J.; Needham, I. (2017). Sensory overload: A concept analysis. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 26(2), 110–120. doi:10.1111/inm.12303. 
Schwarzer, C. (2004). Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology || Social Support. , (), 435–441. doi:10.1016/b0-12-657410-3/00414-1.
Selten, J. P. (2005). Social defeat: risk factor for schizophrenia?. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 187(2), 101–102. doi:10.1192/bjp.187.2.101 .
Seth, P., Murray, C. C., Braxton, N. D., & DiClemente, R. J. (2012). The Concrete Jungle: City Stress and Substance Abuse among Young Adult African American Men. Journal of Urban Health, 90(2), 307–313. doi:10.1007/s11524-012-9716-4. 
Shirkhani, M. Vaseizadeh, N. (2011). Social Capital and Economic Development, Comparative Monitoring of Iran and South Korea, Journal of Politics, 9(1), 143-167. (in Persian).
Simmel, j. (1903). The Metropolis and Mental Life. Section 7 of the people, place, and space reader, 223-226.
Sirat (2017): What are the least stressful and stressful cities in the world? Retrieval of September 15, 1400, from https://serat.news/001at7. (in Persian).
Stansfeld, S.; Haines, M.; Brown, B. (2000). Noise and Health in the Urban Environment. Reviews on Environmental Health, 15(1-2). doi:10.1515/REVEH.2000.15.1-2.43.
Streit, F.; Haddad, L.; Paul, T.; Frank, J.; Schäfer, A.; Nikitopoulos, J.; Akdeniz, C.; Lederbogen, F.; Treutlein, J.; Witt, S.; Meyer-Lindenberg, A.; Rietschel, M.; Kirsch, P.; Wüst, S. (2014). A functional variant in the neuropeptide S receptor 1 gene moderates the influence of urban upbringing on stress processing in the amygdala. Stress, 17(4), 352–361. Doi:10.3109/10253890.2014.921903.
Suchday, S., Kapur, S., Ewart, C. K., & Friedberg, J. P. (2006). Urban Stress and Health in Developing Countries: Development and Validation of a Neighborhood Stress Index for India. Behavioral Medicine, 32(3), 77–86. doi:10.3200/bmed.32.3.77-86.
Taylor, P. J.; Gooding, P.; Wood, A. M.; Tarrier, N. (2011). The role of defeat and entrapment in depression, anxiety, and suicide. Psychological Bulletin, 137(3), 391–420. doi:10.1037/a0022935.
Thorns, D. C. (2002).The Transformation of Cities: Urban Theory and Urban Life. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4039-9031-0.
Vargas, T., Conley, R. E., & Mittal, V. A. (2020). Chronic stress, structural exposures and neurobiological mechanisms: A stimulation, discrepancy and deprivation model of psychosis. In A. Clow, & N. Smyth (Eds.), International Review of Neurobiology (pp. 41-69). (International Review of Neurobiology; Vol. 152). Academic Press Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.irn.2019.11.004.
Ventriglio, A.; Torales, J.; Castaldelli-Maia, J. M.; De Berardis, D.; Bhugra, D. (2020). Urbanization and emerging mental health issues. CNS Spectrums, 1–8. Doi:10.1017/S1092852920001236. 
Vojnovic, I., Pearson, A., Asiki, G., Allen, A., & DeVerteuil, G. (Eds.). (2019). Handbook of Global Urban Health (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315465456.
Wandersman A, Nation M. (1998) Urban neighborhoods and mental health. Psychological contributions to understanding toxicity, resilience, and interventions. Am Psychol. Jun; 53(6):647-56. PMID: 9633265.
World Health Organization. (2013). the European Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020. http://www.euro.who.int/pubrequest.
Xie, S. (2019). Quality matters: housing and the mental health of rural migrants in urban China. Housing Studies, (), 1–23. doi:10.1080/02673037.2019.1577956.
Yang, T.; Matthews, S. A. (2010). The role of social and built environments in predicting self-rated stress: A multilevel analysis in Philadelphia. , 16(5), 803 -810. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.04.005. 
Young, J. (2012). Personal Knowledge Capital-Social capital and trust for a web environment, 81–90. doi:10.1016/b978-1-84334-700-2.50007-5.
 
 
 
Urban Structure and Function Studies
Volume 9, Issue 32
August 2022
Pages 217-242

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 07 March 2022
  • Revise Date: 20 April 2022
  • Accept Date: 29 August 2022

Share

How to cite

Statistics