High-Rise Apartments and Urban Mental Health—Historical and Contemporary Views

Larcombe Larcombe,Etten Etten,Horwitz Horwitz,Logan Logan,Prescott Prescott

doi:10.3390/challe10020034

Abstract

High-rise apartment buildings have long been associated with the poor mental health of their residents. The aims of this paper are to examine whether this connection is necessarily so, by reviewing the evidence relating to the relationships between high-rise living and social wellbeing, occupant’s stress levels, and the influence they have on mental health. From selected literature, psychological stress and poor mental health outcomes of the populations that live in high-rise apartments are indeed apparent, and this is particularly so for apartments in poor neighbourhoods. Yet many apartments in developed cities are in affluent areas (particularly those with views of green/blue space), where residences on higher floors are more expensive. Either way, high-rise living and mental health outcomes are a social justice issue. Our review allows us to propose two models relating to high-rise living relevant today, based on these differences.

Highlights

High-rise and vertical building is thought to have begun in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and the Americas with the construction of pyramids, temples and community structures
Large modern high-rise cities and suburbs began to emerge in the last century, across the United States, India, China, South East Asia and South America to house booming populations and massive urban migration, with some of these experiencing overcrowding, high-crime rates and the development of slums, which has helped stigmatise the experience of living in a high-rise apartment as a negative one [2]
We summarise the evidence for links between stress and social wellbeing in city settings, the relationships between high-rise living and social wellbeing and occupant’s stress levels, and their influence on mental health

Summary

Introduction

High-rise and vertical building is thought to have begun in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and the Americas with the construction of pyramids, temples and community structures. Large modern high-rise cities and suburbs began to emerge in the last century, across the United States, India, China, South East Asia and South America to house booming populations and massive urban migration, with some of these experiencing overcrowding, high-crime rates and the development of slums, which has helped stigmatise the experience of living in a high-rise apartment as a negative one [2]. This stigmatisation was made worse by the calculated use of high-rise complexes to segregate disadvantaged communities. America’s largest public housing project, the demolished Robert Taylor homes, was originally designed for 11,000 people, Challenges 2019, 10, 34; doi:10.3390/challe10020034 www.mdpi.com/journal/challenges

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