Science for Better Cities
Cities are growing, worldwide. At the same time, studies show that people in cities are more likely to suffer from mental illness and are more often stressed and lonely. How does living in urban environments influence our psychological well-being - and how can we make our cities even more liveable? Neurorurbanism addresses those issues from an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspective, bringing scientists and practitioners together to break new ground in the study of cities and the psyche. We aim at promoting neurourbanistic agendas on two fronts. There is first of all, the Interdisciplinary Forum Neurourbanism (IFNU), which has recently also become a citizen science organization. And there is the Research Platform Neurourbanism (RPN) that unifies research coordinated in Berlin and on which this website informs you.
News
Simone Kühn, a German neuroscientist, psychologist and Director of the Research Center for Environmental Neuroscience at Max Planck Institute for Human Development works mainly in the emerging field of environmental neuroscience: she aims to determine whether and how different environmental factors influence the human brain and behavior.
Her research interests focus on neuroplasticity and how the brain can adapt to an ever-changing world. At the same time, she has been interested in understanding how human beings can exert self-control and inhibition to counteract impulses. This later interest has led her to investigate habitual responses, addiction, and other mental disorders.
She will be giving a talk in the context of IFNU roundtable on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024 at 5:00 PM here: Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Luisenstraße 56, House 1, 10117 Berlin, Room 144.
Research Platform Neurourbanism
The Research Platform Neurourbanism (RPN) received funding from the Grand Challenge Call Global Health of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) for a project on “Exploring and Designing Urban Density. Neurourbanism as a Novel Approach in Global Mental Health.“ The main aim is to define a new research field that can address the pressing issues of city living in the 21st century. The methodologies broadly belong to the field of cognitive science, which spans from philosophy to cognitive neuroscience and medicine, as well as to the humanities, architecture, and urban planning.
WP_1 Theory & Framework
We will develop a Theory of Neurourbanism and promote Trans-and Interdisciplinary Research on Global Health (PI: Joerg Fingerhut).
WP_2 Big Data Analytics
We will re-assess the existing large database to asses how genetics, environment, and mental health interact (PIs: Dagmar Haase, Stephan Ripke).
WP_3 New Data: Citizen Science
We will generate new subjective data together with Berlin, Bengalore and Santiago de Chile citizens using the “Your Emotional City” App (PIs: Mazda Adli, Joerg Fingerhut, Ulrike Kluge).
WP_4 Hypothesis Testing: Experiments & Interventions
We will study interactions between environmental density factors and well-being by implementing neuroscientific experiments and staging urban interventions (PIs: Klaus Gramann, Angela Million).
Interdisciplinary Forum Neurourbanism e.V. & Outreach
From knowledge to change: The Interdisciplinary Forum Neurourbanistik e.V. is an association of scientists and practitioners from the fields of psychiatry, urban planning, psychology, neuroscience, architecture, sociology, philosophy, and ethnography.
Together with interdisciplinary partners from politics, society, and administration, we work to bring findings from research into practice. To this end, we organize regular get-togethers and events, publish reports, and hold background discussions with responsible people.
