Urban Design and Health

Heisenberg Programme

In its relation to people’s health and wellbeing, urban design is an important topic that has not found a permanent home in departments of architecture in Germany. This DFG Heisenberg Grant supports Prof. Knöll in building further research and teaching capacities at TU Darmstadt to address health issues in urban agglomerations from the perspective of urban design and planning and as part of interdisciplinary teams. Specifically, the project aims to (1) identify key urban design factors related to mental health and wellbeing, (2) develop new experimental methods to pair Space Syntax with urban health data, and (3) develop design strategies to inform the much-needed transformation towards healthy and inclusive cities.