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The Effects of the Urban Built Environment on Mental Health: A Cohort Study in a Large Northern Italian City

Author

Listed:
  • Giulia Melis

    (Environmental Heritage and Urban Redevelopment Unit, SiTI—Higher Institute on Territorial Systems for Innovation, via Boggio 61, 10138 Torino, Italy)

  • Elena Gelormino

    (ASL Torino 5, Local Public Health Agency, piazza S. Pellico 1, 10023 Chieri, Italy)

  • Giulia Marra

    (Environmental Heritage and Urban Redevelopment Unit, SiTI—Higher Institute on Territorial Systems for Innovation, via Boggio 61, 10138 Torino, Italy)

  • Elisa Ferracin

    (SEPI Grugliasco, Epidemiology Service for ASL Torino 3, Local Public Health Agency, via Sabaudia 164, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy)

  • Giuseppe Costa

    (SEPI Grugliasco, Epidemiology Service for ASL Torino 3, Local Public Health Agency, via Sabaudia 164, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy)

Abstract

Mental health (MH) has a relevant burden on the health of populations. Common MH disorders (anxiety and non-psychotic depression) are well associated to socioeconomic individual and neighborhood characteristics, but little is known about the influence of urban structure. We analyzed among a Turin (Northwest Italy) urban population the association at area level of different urban structure characteristics (density, accessibility by public transport, accessibility to services, green and public spaces) and consumption of antidepressants. Estimates were adjusted by individual socio-demographic variables (education, housing tenure, employment) and contextual social environment (SE) variables (social and physical disorder, crime rates). Data was extracted from the Turin Longitudinal Study (TLS)—a census-based cohort study following up prospectively the mortality and morbidity of the population. As expected, individual characteristics show the strongest association with antidepressant drug consumption, while among built environment (BE) indicators accessibility by public transport and urban density only are associated to MH, being slightly protective factors. Results from this study, in agreement with previous literature, suggest that BE has a stronger effect on MH for people who spend more time in the neighborhood. Therefore, this research suggests that good accessibility to public transport, as well as a dense urban structure ( versus sprawl), could contribute to reduced risk of depression, especially for women and elderly, by increasing opportunities to move around and have an active social life.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulia Melis & Elena Gelormino & Giulia Marra & Elisa Ferracin & Giuseppe Costa, 2015. "The Effects of the Urban Built Environment on Mental Health: A Cohort Study in a Large Northern Italian City," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:11:p:14898-14915:d:59197
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Almedom, Astier M., 2005. "Social capital and mental health: An interdisciplinary review of primary evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 943-964, September.
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    4. Reiss, Franziska, 2013. "Socioeconomic inequalities and mental health problems in children and adolescents: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 24-31.
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    Cited by:

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    7. Giulia Melis & Elena Gelormino & Giulia Marra & Elisa Ferracin & Giuseppe Costa, 2016. "Response to Kestens et al . Comments on Melis et al . The Effects of the Urban Built Environment on Mental Health: A Cohort Study in a Large Northern Italian City. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-2, February.
    8. Yan Yan & Hui Liu & Canfei He, 2021. "How Does Urban Sprawl Affect Public Health? Evidence from Panel Survey Data in Urbanizing China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-14, September.
    9. Abu Yousuf Md Abdullah & Jane Law & Zahid A. Butt & Christopher M. Perlman, 2021. "Understanding the Differential Impact of Vegetation Measures on Modeling the Association between Vegetation and Psychotic and Non-Psychotic Disorders in Toronto, Canada," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-25, April.
    10. Ainara Díaz-Geada & Núria Obradors-Rial & Antoni Baena & Ester Teixidó-Compañó & Ester Colillas-Malet & Narmeen Mallah & Lucía Moure-Rodríguez & Francisco Caamaño-Isorna & Tivy Barón-Garcia, 2021. "Contextual Determinants in Alcohol, Tobacco and Cannabis Consumption, Mood and Bullying during Adolescence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-14, August.
    11. Lin Zhang & Suhong Zhou & Lanlan Qi & Yue Deng, 2022. "Nonlinear Effects of the Neighborhood Environments on Residents’ Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-17, December.
    12. Yinhua Tao & Jie Yang & Yanwei Chai, 2019. "The Anatomy of Health-Supportive Neighborhoods: A Multilevel Analysis of Built Environment, Perceived Disorder, Social Interaction and Mental Health in Beijing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-19, December.
    13. Dong Ha Kim & Seunghyun Yoo, 2019. "How Does the Built Environment in Compact Metropolitan Cities Affect Health? A Systematic Review of Korean Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-22, August.
    14. Margherita Silan & Pietro Belloni & Giovanna Boccuzzo, 2023. "Identification of neighborhood clusters on data balanced by a poset-based approach," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 32(4), pages 1295-1316, October.
    15. Adriana Loureiro & Paula Santana & Carla Nunes & Ricardo Almendra, 2019. "The Role of Individual and Neighborhood Characteristics on Mental Health after a Period of Economic Crisis in the Lisbon Region (Portugal): A Multilevel Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-16, July.
    16. Da-Hye Yim & Youngsang Kwon, 2021. "Does Young Adults’ Neighborhood Environment Affect Their Depressive Mood? Insights from the 2019 Korean Community Health Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-15, January.
    17. Yan Kestens & Basile Chaix & Martine Shareck & Julie Vallée, 2016. "Comments on Melis et al . The Effects of the Urban Built Environment on Mental Health: A Cohort Study in a Large Northern Italian City. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health , 2015, 12 , 14898–14915," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-4, February.
    18. Zihan Kan & Mei-Po Kwan & Mee Kam Ng & Hendrik Tieben, 2022. "The Impacts of Housing Characteristics and Built-Environment Features on Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-19, April.

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