Impact of leisure environmental supply on new urban pathology: a case study of Guangzhou and Zhuhai

Traditional studies on urban pathology primarily focused on impacts of social disorganization and urban settings, such as crime, polarization between the rich and the poor, pollution, and deteriorating living conditions, whereas there is insufficient attention paid to urban mental health and wellness. To provide fresh insights into the issue of urban mental health and wellness, this paper defines the psychiatric disorder of urban citizens as ‘new urban pathology’ which primarily results from a highly competitive, stressful, and fast-paced urban life. Based on 40 interviews from citizens in two rapidly urbanizing cities in mainland China, this paper attempts to investigate how the supply of leisure facilities affects new urban pathology. There are three general findings of this research: (1) First, new urban pathology commonly exists and varies with urban communities. However, it is not significantly influenced by the pace of city life. It is found that the worse prospect the living standards, the more significant the negative impacts of the new urban pathology. (2) Sufficient urban leisure facilities do have positive impacts on relieving psychological pressure of urban dwellers. Apart from these, residents also achieve stress relief from surrounding therapeutic landscapes like aesthetic public space, well-designed architecture, etc. (3) The perceived usefulness of leisure environment serves as a key factor to mediate the stress-mitigating effect of leisure supply. When leisure facilities’ functions highly match the needs of residents, leisure environmental supply can be utilized effectively, which helps alleviate the new urban pathology. This research advances the literature of urban health studies by tentatively revealing the interaction between the supply of leisure environmental facilities and urban mental health. It suggests that urban practitioners should optimize the quality of facilities rather than simply increasing the quantity for reducing the daily stress of urban life.

Situated Withnessing in/as Intervention

Im Rahmen meiner Forschung über die Zusammenhänge von psychischer Gesundheit und städtischen Umwelten in Berlin, Deutschland, beobachtete und arbeitete ich in und mit einem Projekt zur Verbesserung der Lebensbedingungen für Menschen mit schweren psychischen Problemen unter den Bedingungen eines angespannten Wohnungsmarktes. Im Laufe des Projekts wurde ich über ‚lediglich‘ teilnehmendes Beobachten hinausgehend ein aktiv mitarbeitendes Projektmitglied. Diese Art des Engagements basiert nicht auf einer ethischen Verpflichtung gegenüber den moralischen und politischen Zielen der Forschungspartner*innen, sondern stellt vielmehr eine Methode zur Generierung von situiertem empirischem Wissen und Konzepten dar. Die Arbeit mit dem Projekt ermöglichte es, Situationen des kritischen Dialogs und der Konfrontation zu schaffen, wodurch sich über einen zeitlichen Verlauf hinweg analytische Ideen herauskristallisierten. So verschwimmt die Trennung zwischen beobachteten und beobachtenden Subjekten ebenso wie die zwischen Beobachten, Intervenieren und Analysieren. Darüber hinaus argumentiere ich, dass die aktive Teilnahme an einer Intervention als ethnografische Langzeitintervention dienen kann, die auf die Produktion neuartiger Forschungsfragen und methodischer Erkenntnisse abzielt, die weitere Forschungszusammenhänge informieren können. Das Ziel der Intervention liegt also abseits von und geht über die lokal beobachteten Probleme hinaus. Ich werde dieses Argument kurz erläutern, indem ich meinen Beitrag zu den interdisziplinären Interessen der Urban Mental Health Forschung diskutiere.

Urban Mental Health Initiative: Developing Interdisciplinary Collaboration, the Role of the Family Physician in Management of Severe Mentally Ill Patients

Introduction: Mental health in Iran was approved in 1988. However, and then this program was integrated into the primary care system in our country and was implemented within the villagers' family physician program with great success. In urban areas, there is no structured health network. However, regarding the demographic changes in the country's population, huge sprawling of cities, and the changes in urban-rural population proportion, demands for a coherent plan to provide mental health services to the urban population are felt more than ever. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility and establishment of a model of urban mental health network for severe psychiatric patients. Methods: This plan is based on resource reviews, Use the experiences of other countries, Model World Health Organization, The services available in the country currently run by the beneficiary organizations, Description of the responsibilities of the responsible organizations, Collaboration between the Ministry of Health and various organizations responsible for mental health, Having the views of national expert and international constant in this field from other countries cooperated with the aim of examining how to compile a coherent and integrated urban health service plan. This model is estimated by community-based services for 100,000 people. Results: The proposed model for providing immediate psychiatric services with greater cohesion and increasing training and skills capacity among staff 110, 115, 1480, and 123 services, as well as a space for hospitalization of 3 to 5 emergency patients next to the public hospital, is recommended. Depending on the number of patients in a population of 100,000, we will need community-based services, including 2 to 3 home visit teams to cover 80 patients per team, and 3 daily centers to provide services to 40 patients. If community-based services are provided, we will need 12 acute psychiatric beds and 5 beds for mid-term rehabilitation to provide inpatient services. In terms of employment and accommodation, 50 patients will need supported employment, respectively, and two apartments with an area of about 60 meters will be needed to accommodate about eight people. The provision of the above services requires the equal participation of the interested organizations. The family physician will play an essential role in continuing medical care for severe and mild psychiatric patients under the constant supervision of specialists Discussion and Conclusion: To achieve a better model of mental health services in cities that can cover a wide range of people in urban areas and at various levels from prevention and care to treatment and rehabilitation, we need the coordination between the organizations providing these services for the accurate planning of the interests of each organization, elimination of duplicate services, and saving human capital and resources of the country.

Building capacity for public urban mental health – example of Reflecting Citizens workshops

Novi Sad is a shelter of six languages, and the place of encounter of different cultures, of nurturing diversity through jokes, recipes, literature, music, works of art. Diversity and colourful customs in Novi Sad are not just the reflection of positive movements, but also serious events, wars, big migrations, internal and external migrations. Today Novi Sad (and our region) are home of 21 ethnicities, with six official languages, complicated administration, and wish to live in peace. Having in mind the contents and matrix which are developing in the Reflective citizens (RC) workshops, the idea was born that RC could become part of all activities of the city of Novi Sad, as tool to develop the dialogue of citizens in cultural spaces of Novi Sad, the European capital of culture in 2021. The idea that Reflective Citizens migrate (move) through different cultural spaces and that thus (in contact with cultural contents) hypotheses, ideas and actions are born, which will in positive communication make contributions to the significance of all cultural values, is justifiable and in time gives a visible, positive result. Reflecting citizens workshop could be seen as a method for building capacity concerning developing innovative concepts for public urban mental health. Reflective Citizens workshops contribute in improving health in community through fostering dialogue and mutual reflection. Also, Reflective Citizens workshops are open space for all citizens who want to contribute to dialog, multiculturalism, tolerance, thus contributing quality of life, social environment and mental health also.

Urbanization and emerging mental health issues

Rapid urbanization worldwide is associated to an increase of population in the urban settings and this is leading to new emerging mental health issues. This narrative mini-review is based on a literature search conducted through PubMed and EMBASE. A total of 113 articles published on the issue of urban mental health have been selected, cited, reviewed, and summarized. There are emerging evidences about the association between urbanization and mental health issues. Urbanization affects mental health through social, economic, and environmental factors. It has been shown that common mental syndromes report higher prevalence in the cities. Social disparities, social insecurity, pollution, and the lack of contact with nature are some of recognized factors affecting urban mental health. Further reserach studies and specific guidelines should be encouraged to help policy makers and urban designers to improve mental health and mental health care facilities in the cities; additional strategies to prevent and reduce mental illness in the urban settings should be also adopted globally.