RECOMMENDED READING
Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing by Jenny Roe and Layla McCay
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Ever since the Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health was launched, architects, planners, public and mental health practitioners, urban specialists, and academics of many varieties, all over the world, have asked us the same question: what book can I read to understand how to design and plan cities for mental health and wellbeing?
After spending the past five years speaking to experts, reading (and publishing) the research in this emerging field, and listening to the needs, experiences, views, challenges, achievements and insights from our diverse globally-distributed colleagues and contacts, we are delighted to be bringing you the book to fill the gap and meet this need: Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing. This book is authored by Jenny Roe, a UD/MH Fellow who is a professor of design and health, an environmental psychologist and former head of landscape architecture for an international architectural practice; and Layla McCay, the Director of The Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health, public health specialist and former psychiatrist. It contains a wealth of expertise, from the authors, from the science, and from the wide community of people working at the nexus of urban design for mental health. The book brings together the latest evidence and the practice for the first time, to provide:
This is a suitable book for anyone interested in urban design and planning for mental health and wellbeing including students, academics, policymakers and anyone involved in planning and designing cities. |
Buy the book
Order from your favourite online or physical bookshop, or get a 35% discount when ordering directly from Bloomsbury with these codes: UK and rest of world: RESCITIES35 | US RESCITIES35US | Canada RESCITIES35CA | Australia RESCITIES35AU
Endorsements
"Offers deep health expertise translated into the practical strategies that respond to today's demand for cities that prioritise their residents' health"
- Joanna Frank, President and CEO, Center for Active Design
- Joanna Frank, President and CEO, Center for Active Design
"Post-Covid-19, cities must be equitable and sustainable, and people should live more healthily and happily. Restorative Cities shows how we can do this, by focusing urbanism on mental health and wellbeing"
- Gil Penalosa, Founder and Chair of 8 80 Cities, Ambassador for World Urban Parks
- Gil Penalosa, Founder and Chair of 8 80 Cities, Ambassador for World Urban Parks
Reviews
Journal of Urban Design and Mental Health
"Restorative Cities is a welcome, timely and important addition to the existing healthy urban planning literature. The main contribution of this book is its comprehensive and clear framework to guide practitioners, researchers and citizens to think through the mental health impacts of the built environment, as well as offering practical solutions and ideas to design more restorative and resilient cities for all." - Hannah Grove
Read the review
"Restorative Cities is a welcome, timely and important addition to the existing healthy urban planning literature. The main contribution of this book is its comprehensive and clear framework to guide practitioners, researchers and citizens to think through the mental health impacts of the built environment, as well as offering practical solutions and ideas to design more restorative and resilient cities for all." - Hannah Grove
Read the review
Cities and Health
"An inspiring, educational, and succinct tour of the intersection of applied psychology, urban planning and design, and public health... expresses a scholarly balance of evidence for and against the benefits of many urban features on mental health... Overall, the book is both prudent and empowering as it consolidates a breadth of theoretical and practical findings from a number of related disciplines into a single resource for considering an urban paradigm motivated by mental health and human flourishing. Readers of the book are left with what feels like an accessible and modern handbook about how to envision and create humane urban settings that tend to the many psychosocial factors that matter now – and will for generations to come." - Lindsay J McCunn
Read the review (subscribers only)
"An inspiring, educational, and succinct tour of the intersection of applied psychology, urban planning and design, and public health... expresses a scholarly balance of evidence for and against the benefits of many urban features on mental health... Overall, the book is both prudent and empowering as it consolidates a breadth of theoretical and practical findings from a number of related disciplines into a single resource for considering an urban paradigm motivated by mental health and human flourishing. Readers of the book are left with what feels like an accessible and modern handbook about how to envision and create humane urban settings that tend to the many psychosocial factors that matter now – and will for generations to come." - Lindsay J McCunn
Read the review (subscribers only)
Good reads reviews
Courtney Tobin: Restorative Cities is a clear, theoretically grounded primer on urban design for mental and community health. It's not an passionate plea for change, like so many other books on the topic. Instead, the authors explain concepts, theoretical frameworks, current research, and global examples of prosocial urban design. Each chapter follows the exact same pattern to explain a different concept; this may seem dry to a casual reader, but it's invaluable for a researcher, activist, or practitioner who wants to leverage this knowledge to effect change. As a newcomer to this discipline, I highly enjoyed learning from this book without having to wade through too much fluff. I'm sure it will be easy for me to reference specific topics as I need them in my future work.
Jasmine Bamlet: An amazing, thoroughly-researched look at how we can build our cities to be more - restorative, inclusive, reflective - for the people who live there. The authors acknowledge that research is limited at this point, but the evidence that is out there is in support of more inclusive and participatory design. This is a great playbook on how a city can take incremental steps to drastically improve the mental well-being of it's residents. Here's to hoping more city planners and urban designers take heed!
Courtney Tobin: Restorative Cities is a clear, theoretically grounded primer on urban design for mental and community health. It's not an passionate plea for change, like so many other books on the topic. Instead, the authors explain concepts, theoretical frameworks, current research, and global examples of prosocial urban design. Each chapter follows the exact same pattern to explain a different concept; this may seem dry to a casual reader, but it's invaluable for a researcher, activist, or practitioner who wants to leverage this knowledge to effect change. As a newcomer to this discipline, I highly enjoyed learning from this book without having to wade through too much fluff. I'm sure it will be easy for me to reference specific topics as I need them in my future work.
Jasmine Bamlet: An amazing, thoroughly-researched look at how we can build our cities to be more - restorative, inclusive, reflective - for the people who live there. The authors acknowledge that research is limited at this point, but the evidence that is out there is in support of more inclusive and participatory design. This is a great playbook on how a city can take incremental steps to drastically improve the mental well-being of it's residents. Here's to hoping more city planners and urban designers take heed!
If you would like to publish a review
Please contact [email protected] to see if you are eligible to receive a review copy of the book and once it's published, email [email protected] and we'll share it here.
Please contact [email protected] to see if you are eligible to receive a review copy of the book and once it's published, email [email protected] and we'll share it here.
Book Awards
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Honourable Mention
Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) Great Place Book Awards |
A selection of op-eds and interviews associated with the book
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Covid has shown us that our neighbourhood could be harming our healthJenny Roe and Layla McCay
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Cities made for our mental healthTalk by Layla McCay
Four Thought on BBC Radio 4 |
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An anxious age demands more 'restorative cities'Mimi Kirk, including interview with Layla McCay
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Restorative cities: urban design for mental health and social interaction in the COVID-eraJenny Roe and Layla McCay
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How our home by the Lee holds up on restorative cities check listMichael Moynihan
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A Whole New World: urban design approach busts status quo for better mental healthJane Kelly, including interview with Jenny Roe
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Book Launch: Layla McCayInterview with Layla McCay
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Book Tour
BBC Radio 4, Four Thought - Cities Made for our Mental Health (Layla)
London
20th July 2022
UCL - Institute for Global Prosperity and the Bartlett Development Planning Unit (Layla)
London
19th May 2022
British Library, MED London festival (Layla)
London
15th May 2022
Sarasota Books (Jenny)
Sarasota, Florida
26 March 2022
Emirates Planning Association (Layla)
Dubai
12th January 2022
Asia Global Institute (Layla)
Hong Kong
21st December 2021
OECD (Layla)
International
12th December 2021 at 4:20pm CET
RSA (Layla)
London/International
16th November 2021 at 1pm UK time
Online event. Watch.
Van Alen Institute (Jenny)
New York City
4th November 2021 at 6:30pm NYC time
In-person event. Watch.
Centre for the New Urbanism Author's Forum (Layla and Jenny)
Washington DC/International
12th October 2021 at 12 noon Washington DC time
Online event. Watch.
Festival of the Future City / Bristol Ideas Festival (Layla)
Bristol/International
20-21st October 2021, time TBC
In-person event. Watch.
Healthy City Design International conference (Layla and Jenny)
London/International
11th October 2021 at 11:45am London Time
Online conference.
AJ100 Architects Journal Festival (Jenny)
UK/International
22nd September 2021
Online event.
Malaysia Institute of Planners (Layla)
Malaysia/International
14th August 2021 at 3pm Malaysia Time
Online event.
Daunt Books (Layla)
London
12th August 2021
BOOK LAUNCH (Layla and Jenny)
London/International
12th August 2021 at 12 noon UK time
Online event. Watch.
Queens University Belfast (Layla)
Belfast/International
17th June 2021 at 5pm Belfast time
Chicago Loop Alliance (Jenny)
Chicago/International
10th June 2021 at 9:30am Chicago time
Georgetown University (Layla)
Washington DC/International
4th March 2021 at 3pm Washington DC time
If you would like one or both of the authors to participate in an event, please email [email protected]
London
20th July 2022
UCL - Institute for Global Prosperity and the Bartlett Development Planning Unit (Layla)
London
19th May 2022
British Library, MED London festival (Layla)
London
15th May 2022
Sarasota Books (Jenny)
Sarasota, Florida
26 March 2022
Emirates Planning Association (Layla)
Dubai
12th January 2022
Asia Global Institute (Layla)
Hong Kong
21st December 2021
OECD (Layla)
International
12th December 2021 at 4:20pm CET
RSA (Layla)
London/International
16th November 2021 at 1pm UK time
Online event. Watch.
Van Alen Institute (Jenny)
New York City
4th November 2021 at 6:30pm NYC time
In-person event. Watch.
Centre for the New Urbanism Author's Forum (Layla and Jenny)
Washington DC/International
12th October 2021 at 12 noon Washington DC time
Online event. Watch.
Festival of the Future City / Bristol Ideas Festival (Layla)
Bristol/International
20-21st October 2021, time TBC
In-person event. Watch.
Healthy City Design International conference (Layla and Jenny)
London/International
11th October 2021 at 11:45am London Time
Online conference.
AJ100 Architects Journal Festival (Jenny)
UK/International
22nd September 2021
Online event.
Malaysia Institute of Planners (Layla)
Malaysia/International
14th August 2021 at 3pm Malaysia Time
Online event.
Daunt Books (Layla)
London
12th August 2021
BOOK LAUNCH (Layla and Jenny)
London/International
12th August 2021 at 12 noon UK time
Online event. Watch.
Queens University Belfast (Layla)
Belfast/International
17th June 2021 at 5pm Belfast time
Chicago Loop Alliance (Jenny)
Chicago/International
10th June 2021 at 9:30am Chicago time
Georgetown University (Layla)
Washington DC/International
4th March 2021 at 3pm Washington DC time
If you would like one or both of the authors to participate in an event, please email [email protected]
Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing by Jenny Roe and Layla McCay was launched on 12th August 2021 at noon at an online live event hosted by the Urban Design Group with the Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health. It featured a presentation by the authors, followed by discussion with Rhiannon Corcoran, Graham Marshall and Rachel Toms. 225 people from 26 countries attended. The event can be watched here.
Press Release
| restorative_cities_press_release.docx |
If you would like further information, or to interview the authors, please email [email protected]