Living in a concrete jungle has its pros and its cons, but how exactly does urban living affect mental wellbeing? A new cross-disciplinary project intents to find out by using a smartphone app called Urban Mind. The app is designed to monitor various aspects of a metropolitan environment - specifically noise, density, overcrowding, walkability, sociability and street activity. The team is now inviting the general public to download the app on their smartphone and participate in the research for a period of seven days.

“As the number of people moving to cities continues to rise, with 66% of the global population expected to live in urban areas by 2050, it is critical to understand how urban living is affecting us” urges representatives.

After downloading and installing the app, participants will be asked to answer questions about their current urban environment and mental wellbeing at random times throughout the day. When answering a set of questions participants also have the option of taking a photograph of the ground or floor where they are standing and/or a 15 second audio recording of their surrounding environment. These photographic and audio files will be used in a digital art exhibition related to the study.

By collecting real-time data, the research will elucidate how different aspects of the urban environment affect mental wellbeing and how this interacts with individual characteristics such as lifestyle and personality.

The team of researchers plan to use this information to draft a set of guidelines for urban planning and design aimed at maximizing mental wellbeing in urban populations.

To find out more about the study and participate in the research, please go to urbanmind.info

Urban Mind is a collaboration between King’s College London, Nomad Project, J&L Gibbons, A&E, Van Alen Institute and Sustainable Society Network.