highrises harm occupants' mental health

[John Zeger]

"There has been some suggestion that there is a relationship between housing type and psychological health, whereby persons living in highrises or multiple dwelling units are more unhappy about their housing circumstances than those who live in houses (McCarthy, Byre, Harrison & Keithley, 1985). This unhappiness may result in the development of psychological distress, and eventually, some form of mental illness. A review of the literature on highrise housing and mental health by Ineichen (1986) draws the conclusion that the overall evidence suggests that the mental health of occupants of highrise flats is poorer than that of equivalent households living in different situations. This finding is particularly relevant for families with young children. Edwards et. al (1982) in a study of housing type and stress in Toronto, found that apartment dwellers have a greater likelihood of reporting symptoms of stress."

Esme Fuller-Thomson et.al., The Housing/Health Relationship: What Do We Know? Reviews on Environmental Health, January 2000

Evidence such as this has prompted researchers in Australia to study the health impacts of living in highrises. www.news-medical.net/print_article.asp?id=4561

[Rick Shea]

A variety of studies indicate a correlation between increasing urban density and detrimental psychological and social effects. A quick Web search brings up a host of related articles. While doing such a search, and reviewing the articles, I came across some notes by Nikos Salingaros, one of the "New Urbanists."

Salingaros provides an argument for, and gives a model of, low density cities (http://www.math.utsa.edu/sphere/salingar/lowdensitycity.html)

Interestingly, Salingaros points out how certain types of densification actually contribute to suburban sprawl. I note his recommendation, in his section entitled "The pathology of skyscrapers," that commercial and residential highrises should be limited to a maximum of 4 to 6 stories.

An interesting read.

[John Zeger]

I love Nikos Salingaros. We have his article "City of Chaos" on our Links page. It is about the negative impact that the style of modernism characterized by highrise architechture has had on Greek cities. The Links page also has James Howard Kunstler and Nikos Salingaros' article "The End of Tall Buildings" and Nikos Salingaros interview with Leon Krier "An Architecture for Our Time." Finally, there is George H. Ramsey's article "Energy: Patterns, Planning and Architecture" where he states (in a box) that highrises and suburbia (sprawl) necessitate one-another presumably because people move to the suburbs to get away from the ugliness and then the suburbanites who don't want their own neighbourhoods to become too dense insist that all future growth go somewhere else e.g., into downtown highrises. So the counterpoints of a high-density downtown and a sprawling suburbia become more and more exaggerated. Does this sound like the direction that Kelowna is going?

[John Zeger]

There is an article and editorial in the July 5, 2005 Kelowna Daily Courier about the negative effects of too much television watching on the cognitive performance of children. John Harding in his editorial puts part of the blame for children's chronic television watching habit on the lack of outdoor play alternatives for them. Harding says "[Another reason children watch so much TV] is the propensity of developers and city planners to jam the maximum amount of single-family houses onto a section of land. Its difficult to tell the children to go play outside when they can kick a soccer ball over the backyard fence with ease at age three. 'Postage stamp' comes to mind when we see the size of many new-house backyards."

A far more flagrant example of children lacking the proper amount of playspace is the strong shift in our city towards multi-family housing. A "postage stamp" backyard seems like a football field when you compare it to a highrise balcony. But then, what mother would be foolish enough to let her toddler play on a 20 storey apartment balcony in the first place? Apartments are no places for children and the city should stop its experiment with radical densification as apartments especially highrises obviously have all sorts of negative impacts on the mental health and cognitive functioning of children.

[cathy]

An important aspect of smart growth is the incorporation of green space into the development, including local parks.
A "Priority Policy" is to "Provide public parks and green spaces of all types in urban and suburban settings. Build all streets with sidewalks, bordered by streets trees, to connect people with green parks. "
www.realtor.org/SG3.nsf/Pages/worthwords?
"Smart growth preserves and uses open spaces, green spaces, and public spaces. With places to play and relax embedded within places of commerce and residence, we enhance our quality of life, our air and water quality, and wildlife habitat. By insisting that amenities like open space and parks go hand-in-hand with necessary efforts to increase density in certain areas, we can make our cities and towns great places to live."
www.pilchuckaudubon.org/smart.html

[Rick Shea]

But, as is clear from the examples in various cities in the U.S., smart growth does nothing of the sort. Agricultural land is still being gobbled up around Portland and other areas, and sprawl continues unabated. We have already provided the documentation to support those statements, so I have to wonder why you continue to make such banal statements, and to refuse to answer questions.

"Smart growth" really is an oxymoron, and it should be called what it is: dense and dumb growth.

[Rick Shea]

I find it interesting that the two references provided by Cathy say virtually nothing about highrises. There is one image of an 11 or so storey structure, but a later image indicates that highrises are undesirable. There is one phrase about the height of a primary building wall of 4 to 8 stories, but no data to support that that is what people who were surveyed wanted. All the rest of the the images show maximum 3 storey buildings, lakes, parks, and greenspace; and the text talks about low-rise traditional neighborhoods. I find some of the images rather attractive. Could it be that the "smart growth" people know what we know about highrises?

But the public plazas mentioned for the urban core areas hardly qualify as appropriate play spaces for small children. And I suspect that the urban parks are not appropriate for soccer, baseball, and other activities, so I guess that all of the children will have to be driven to the suburbs for their sports activities. Oh no! More traffic!

[cathy]

Apartments are no places for children and the city should stop its experiment with radical densification as apartments especially highrises obviously have all sorts of negative impacts on the mental health and cognitive functioning of children.

I thought we already agreed that Kelowna's current and future population is leaning towards retirees and elderly people? I'm sure young families will have the choice of whether or not to live in highrises, and many elderly people would choose that over a large house and garden to take care of. If families are forced to choose from highrises, which they may choose to avoid, or the current houses with larger yards, they may have a limited selection among what's already been built. That'd be like, say, capping the population??

[Rick Shea]

cathy said:

If families are forced to choose from highrises, which they may choose to avoid, or the current houses with larger yards, they may have a limited selection among what's already been built. That'd be like, say, capping the population??

Those clearly are not the only two choices, so the question you ask is not only illogical, it is irrelevant as well.

[John Zeger]

"Lindheim and Syme (1983), Evans et. al. (2000), and Wells (2000) summarize findings that residence on the upper floors of high-rises is associated with lower physical activity, behavioral problems, and respiratory illnesses in children, and with neuroticism and social isolation in stay-at-home mothers and military wives. Wells speculates that restricted access to the outdoors is the key factor in these adverse health effects. Lindheim and Syme emphasize that mothers of children under 5 years of age, and these children, are affected the most negatively by high-rise living..."

Laura E. Jackson, "The Relationship of Urban Design to Human Health and Condition,"" Landscape and Urban Planning, 64, (2003).