Neuroscience and the Cities: Neurourbanism

Abstract

Cities are settlements where many people live together and whose population is constantly growing. Due to the rise of urbanization, the number of buildings in the cities has increased rapidly. The structures in the cities have been designed quickly and at low cost, often without considering human emotions and health. It has been observed that most of the people living in the cities have faced with some physical, mental and spiritual problems resulting from some aspects that have been ignored in the buildings or urban planning. In recent years, it has been pointed out that human health should also be taken into account when planning cities. The concept of neurourbanism emerged when neuroscience, which is an interdisciplinary branch of science, became the target of urban studies. Neurourbanism gives information about how an ideal urban design should be, by measuring and detecting the changes created by different urban spaces on the human body. In this study, the issues to be considered in the design of an ideal city were discussed under four main headings: navigation, nature interaction, embodied experiences, and environmental stressors and mental health.

Keywords

• Neuroarchitecture
• Environment
• Urban planning
• Neurourbanism

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