Neurourbanism Assessment
Neurourbanism Assessment (NUA), is a comprehensive methodology designed for the in-situ evaluation of urban interventions' impacts on mental health status at the neighborhood scale. This document aims to present the NUA methodology in an accessible manner for diverse stakeholders, including urban planners, policymakers, researchers, and residents.
The NUA methodology is based on the premise that the characteristics of the spaces we live in directly impact mental wellbeing outcomes. Unlike traditional clinical assessments focused on individuals, NUA is centered on the "diagnosis of the space", seeking to understand how the human brain responds to its surroundings so they can be optimized for mental health promotion. It integrates insights from neuroscience and urban planning, leveraging portable neuroscience technologies and citizen science methods to create more mentally healthy urban spaces.
The core of NUA involves collecting multi-modal data in real-world urban environments, ensuring ecological validity. Key inputs include in-situ neurophysiological measurements, self-reported wellbeing and lifestyle metrics, community bonding data, and objective environmental quality metrics. Mobile electroencephalogram (EEG) devices are used to capture brain activity (specifically alpha and beta bands) and heart rate as participants move through spaces. Self-reported data is collected via questionnaires including stress, anxiety, and life satisfaction metrics. Participants are recruited from the target area’s resident population to ensure representativeness. They collect data autonomously using the devices and a smartphone app, over a period of five days. Data is subject to rigorous preprocessing and statistical analysis.
The primary output is the NUA Index, an easy-to-understand, numeric score expressed as a percentage, which integrates data from neurophysiology, self-reported wellbeing, community bonding, and living environment quality. This index provides an aggregated measure of a neighbourhood’s mental wellbeing status influenced by its environment, allowing for a quick and intuitive grasp of the assessment findings. Further facilitated with a traffic light system, the NUA index allows for easy interpretation of results. The outcomes offer a profile of everyday psychology and brain activity, facilitates pre/post comparisons for urban interventions, and shows fluctuations over time.
NUA offers significant contributions by providing evidence-based, actionable metrics for various stakeholders. It empowers urban planners and decision-makers to identify areas in need of intervention, prioritize projects based on potential mental health impact, justify investments, and integrate mental health into urban development agendas. Through its foundations in citizen science and participatory approach, it also empowers residents to understand their environment's impact and advocate for changes. Furthermore, NUA can be integrated with digital twins, simulators and mapping tools to enhance urban planning and co-creation processes.
While operating within inherent complexities, the NUA methodology has been tested in real-life scenarios to address potential limitations. Challenges such as ensuring sample representativeness in real-world settings, managing noisy physiological data, accounting for external life events, and navigating the novelty of neuro-technologies were addressed through robust recruitment strategies, technological advancements in portable EEG, rigorous data processing, longitudinal study designs, and the citizen science approach. NUA's sensitivity to environmental conditions like weather is acknowledged, highlighting its strength in capturing the dynamic reality of urban space use and the importance of considering seasonal variations. By turning these perceived limitations into opportunities for deeper understanding and action, NUA serves as a valuable tool for advancing neurourbanism research and informing the creation of urban environments that actively promote mental health and optimal living conditions for all.