Currently, over 50 percent of the world’s population lives in cities. By 2050 over two-thirds of people will reside in urban environments. Although city living has many advantages, residing in cities is often associated with a high cost of living, high crime rates, and large population density. Research has also shown that people who grow up in cities process negative emotions such as stress differently from those who move to the city as adults. These and other factors often result in severe or prolonged stress.
Could the stress of city life be increasing the risk of mental health disorders? Does city living make the brain more susceptible to mental health conditions? If scientists are able to detect which aspects of city life are most stressful, these findings may help to improve the way urban areas are designed. On Monday, November 2, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., please join our speakers at the German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI) in New York as they discuss these and other significant questions affecting stress and the city.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, Director of the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany, and Professor and Chairman of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Heidelberg University, will outline the results of his research on the effects of city vs. country living. He will explain how there is a well-documented risk increase in cities for psychiatric disorders, which is notable because all other major health risks have traditionally been lower in cities. In fact, within urban environments, there is a 30 to 40 percent risk increase for rates of depression and anxiety. For schizophrenia, there is a 30 percent risk increase for people born in cities. Prof. Dr. Meyer-Lindenberg will elaborate on how the structure of the brain is actually different for people born in cities. In addition, he will discuss a large-scale study he is involved with that uses mobile fencing from smartphones and geo-locations to hone in on what aspects of the urban environment are good and bad for individuals. Lastly, he will address the role green space plays for social interactions in cities.
Before coming to Mannheim in 2007, Prof. Dr. Meyer-Lindenberg spent ten years as a scientist at the National Institutes of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD. His research interests focus on the development of novel treatments for severe psychiatric disorders, especially schizophrenia, through an application of multimodal neuroimaging, genetics and enviromics to characterize brain circuits underlying the risk for mental illness and cognitive dysfunction.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg will be joined by Prof. Dr. Andrew Rundle, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Prof. Dr. Rundle’s research focuses on the determinants of sedentary lifestyles and obesity and the health-related consequences of these conditions. In his presentation, he will discuss how urban design is being used in New York City to promote physical activity and well-being. He will explain how he has been using GPS and physical activity monitors to better understand the notion of walkability and how much space people use in their urban environments. More specifically, he will discuss the extent to which neighborhoods promote physical activity and the role this plays with respect to stress and anxiety in urban settings.
Prof. Dr. Rundle co-directs the Built Environment and Health Research Group at Columbia University, a transdisciplinary team of researchers studying how neighborhood built and social environments influence health. His work on urban design and neighborhood effects on health has been used as part of the scientific rationale for the New York City ‘Active Design Guidelines’ and for the Mayor’s Food Policy Task Force’s ‘Food Retail Expansion to Support Health’ (FRESH) initiative.
The Executive Director of the Heidelberg University Association, Irmintraud Jost, will moderate the evening discussion.
This discussion will take place on Monday, November 2, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the German Center for Research and Innovation (871 United Nations Plaza, First Avenue, btw. 48th & 49th Streets). Follow @gcri_ny and the hashtag #UrbanHealth for live tweets. A video recording will be available on www.germaninnovation.org shortly after the event. This event is co-sponsored by the German Center for Research and Innovation and the Heidelberg University Association.
