Use + Remix

Building mental health

Building design can impact mental health. : Michael Joiner, 360info CC BY 4.0

Backgrounder: 439 words

Access to warm, dry, secure, long-term housing is key to mental health. 360info explores housing policy, residential green space and the meaning of ‘home’.

8 perspectives

8 perspectives
Special Report

Building mental health

Access to warm, dry, secure, long-term housing is key to mental health. 360info explores housing policy, residential green space and the meaning of ‘home’.

Health
Access to nature in childhood is associated with a reduced risk of mental illness : George Tan (Flickr) public domain

Trees, grass and greenery lower the risk of mental health problems. It’s a lesson city planners need to learn.

Building mental health

Greening the city to prevent mental illness

Trees, grass and greenery lower the risk of mental health problems. It’s a lesson city planners need to learn.

Health
The Balinese traditional house follows a strict ancient architectural guide that gives psychological benefits : Shankar S Shankar S / Flickr. CC BY 2.0

Communal spaces and a connection to the outdoors make traditional Balinese homes a template for the green design of the future.

Building mental health

Inside out: why Balinese homes are so loved

Communal spaces and a connection to the outdoors make traditional Balinese homes a template for the green design of the future.

Culture
Laundry lines stretch towards the back of this unmarked alley in Tanah Abang. In some parts of Jakarta the houses are so densely packed that sufficient light and circulating air rarely reach down to the rooms, leaving them dark and mouldy: Danumurthi Mahendra /Flickr. CC BY 2.0 : Danumurthi Mahendra all rights reserved

Jakarta’s high-rise settlements are the most crowded places in Southeast Asia. New community centres provide vital outdoor space for a hemmed-in population.

Building mental health

A place to breathe in jam-packed Jakarta

Health
Social housing in the UK is allocated on a fast, low-cost basis. Credit: Lydia_Shiningbrightly (Flickr) CC BY 2.0 : Lydia_Shiningbrightly (Flickr) CC 2.0
Use + Remix

Putting the heart back into home

Health
An architecturally designed prison with light, views and nature seems fanciful. But it could be what’s needed to deliver good neighbours, friends, colleagues and parents back into the community. : PHILIPVILE All rights reserved

Maggie’s are health centres designed to be beautiful and healing. Prisons could learn something from their design principles.

Building mental health

Rethinking prisons for the people they house

Arts
A Kansas farmhouse may be humble, but if it’s a place of safety, warmth and happiness – a home – it is irreplaceable: Janice Waltzer, Flicker. CC-BY-2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode

‘Home’ is not only a place to sleep. Well-being comes from the social aspects of home just as much as from four walls and a roof.

Building mental health

Being housed is not the same as having a home

Health
People have been told they must warm their homes in winter or risk getting sick: OakleyOriginals, Flickr. CC BY 2.0: https://www.flickr.com/photos/47264866@N00/8520340192

Policies worldwide focus on heating homes to a minimum temperature that has no evidence to support it. They cause vulnerable people needless distress.

Building mental health

How cold is too cold? Getting home temperatures right

Health
The most vulnerable New Zealanders are bearing the brunt as secure, affordable housing becomes harder and harder to find: Michael Coghlan, Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode

Tongans are being pushed to extremes as affordable housing grows scarce. New Zealand needs a Pacific Housing Strategy to address this escalating crisis.

Building mental health

No place to call home: Tongans hard hit by New Zealand’s housing crisis

Health