Cities & The Mental Health Gap

"Cities have an inherent creativity, energy, and entrepreneurial capacity that captivate millions of people. Such characteristics are frequently identified as a boon for start-ups and businesses, but their reach goes much farther. Urban ecosystems have great potential as solution hubs for a less-discussed area: mental health."

"The mental health gap is especially large in cities, due to mass urbanisation and higher incidence rates of mental illness in metropolitan areas, which place increasing strain on public services. But while cities feel the burden of mental illness acutely, they also have the great potential to achieve meaningful impact in the struggle to close the global mental health gap."

Three points are important when addressing mental health: cross-sector collaboration (e.g. housing, transportation, education, health systems), innovation and internet/communication technology. (CityMetric)

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Photograph of Tokyo via Wikipedia