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Revisiting the Virtuous City: Learning from the Past to Improve Modern Urban Mental Health

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Mental Health and Illness in the City

Part of the book series: Mental Health and Illness Worldwide ((MHIW))

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Abstract

This chapter looks at the evidence on current urban mental health in the context of rapid global change, both environmentally and socially. We summarize relevant epidemiological evidence on urban mental health, looking particularly at studies from Asia, Latin America, and Africa. We then look at two complementary major philosophical ideas from urban thinkers of the past – the Ideal or Utopian City and the Garden City, and discuss how these ideas are relevant for the urban mental health in the twenty-first century. We conclude with the importance of incorporating all human wisdom from the past millennia to deal with the future challenge of creating mentally healthy and sustainable cities.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCL Institute of Health Equity, London, UK

    Carolyn Stephens

  2. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK

    Carolyn Stephens

  3. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Carolyn Stephens

  4. Artech, Independent Architect, Tucumán, Argentina

    Alfredo Gutierrez Carrizo

  5. Department of Disaster and Public Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Abbas Ostadtaghizaddeh

Authors
  1. Carolyn Stephens
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  2. Alfredo Gutierrez Carrizo
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  3. Abbas Ostadtaghizaddeh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carolyn Stephens .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Niels Okkels

  2. Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Christina Blanner Kristiansen

  3. Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Povl Munk-Jorgensen

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© 2016 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

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Stephens, C., Carrizo, A.G., Ostadtaghizaddeh, A. (2016). Revisiting the Virtuous City: Learning from the Past to Improve Modern Urban Mental Health. In: Okkels, N., Kristiansen, C., Munk-Jorgensen, P. (eds) Mental Health and Illness in the City. Mental Health and Illness Worldwide. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0752-1_14-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0752-1_14-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0752-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0752-1

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