Healthy Urban Neighbourhoods Within Green Infrastructures

Abstract

An important part of people and their wellbeing is their living environment. Because of the increase in population and buildings, urban areas suffer from densification and diminishing green environments. These urban environments have substantial risk of mental illness, such as depression and anxiety. Green environments and qualitative features of building have a positive impact on people and their mental health. Because of lacking space caused by the large number of existing buildings, it is important to look at the possibilities to facilitate these healthy living environments within the existing urban fabric. As a testcase within the research paper strategies for decreasing depression/anxiety levels and -risks in the urban context of Boerhaavewijk (Haarlem) are investigated, with the focus on urban green infrastructures and the facilitation of passive and active care. This research gives a method of improving mental health in urban environments, by providing a system of internal and external interventions with a scoring on effectiveness, cost, amount of functions, passive or active care and implementation time, together with the reflection of users, designers, and planners. In the design proposal the found strategies are implemented in the renovation and add-on of a post-war flat and its immediate environment in Boerhaavewijk (Haarlem), with the objective of making it more sustainable and facilitate for better mental health, by the implementation of green infrastructures and the facilitation of passive and active care to decrease the depression/anxiety levels and-risks of its users.