So we’re going some way towards breaking the taboo on mental health problems. Singer Christabelle Borg took the issue to the Malta Song for Europe stage, others actually braved the national TV arena and disclosed their personal experiences with mental health issues. There’s a move against stigmatising mental health and addressing the issue in a humane way – as a treatable condition instead of something shameful.
This is a move in the right direction – but it’s not going far enough. Because if the authorities are sincere about improving citizens’ well-being, perhaps they could start by addressing some of the root causes of mental and physical problems. Which would mean that they could sit up and take a blind bit of notice to the way that our increasingly chaotic environment is impinging on our health.
Genetic factors apart, it is now widely recognised that our surroundings have a considerable impact on how we feel. It’s not your usual environmentalist suspects saying this. Design professionals and scientists confirm what we feel in our bones – that the spaces we inhabit can influence our health big time.
Sarah Williams Goldhagen taught at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design for 10 years and is an award-winning writer who has written about buildings, cities and landscapes for many national and international publications. Her latest book is called Welcome to Your World – How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives.
Goldhagen discusses the way poorly designed buildings and crowded breeze blocks which obstruct light give rise to undesirable effects. She shows how the most beneficial factors for well-being and productivity – for both students and adults – are natural light and proximity to nature.
She compares two architecturally identical housing complexes in Chicago. The one she calls Green Courtyard is blessed with shrubs, grass and plants, while Gray Courtyard is a wasteland paved with concrete. “Green” children are physically and psychologically healthier, more adept at handling interpersonal conflict and stress and show superior cognitive function than those in the Gray Courtyard.
It is clear that this complete deregulation, this dismantling of planning and design rules is the government’s idea of being business-friendly
Even if that seems far-fetched, there’s no getting away from the fact that the car-centric built-up environment that we’re encouraging is promoting sedentary lifestyles and obesity.
So where does that leave us? Nowhere very amenable to healthier lifestyles – physically or mentally – and with no foreseeable prospects of improvement. Because what this all boils down to ultimately is decent planning policies and not the non-policies we have now. Since 2013 we have seen the introduction of the following policies – the cumulative effects of which are leading to horribly congested environments.
There’s the policy which allows for an additional unlimited number of floors for hotels with no obligation to retain any open space for the public realm. There’s the policy which allows for the building of retirement homes in ODZ areas if there is no feasible alternative. The Planning Authority takes this to mean that there is no feasible financial alternative, effectively encouraging the take-up of ODZ land which is cheaper than land within scheme. For retirement homes within the development zone, the policy allows a height relaxation and the addition of further floors.
The infamous fuel station policy allows for huge stations on ODZ land. Our sanitary laws have been amended so as to allow exceptions for the height to width ratio of streets. In effect, this means that you can have massive buildings looming over narrow roads.
The policy allowing the taking up of public land and parking spaces means that the area outside someone’s home can be transformed into a 24/7 commercialised area with the inconvenience which that brings about. It goes on – with more in the pipeline.
It is clear that this complete deregulation, this dismantling of planning and design rules is the government’s idea of being business-friendly. Any objection to this “anything goes” approach is dismissed as standing in the way of progress. The man in the street whose life is made more difficult, dreary and unhealthy because of the intentional dismantling of a regulatory system is on his own. His options are limited to selling up (admittedly at a high price) and moving on to another locality before it too bears the brunt of chaotic deregulation.
There is no way that this is good, sustainable or healthy. But we can’t say so because common sense is the last taboo.
drcbonello@gmail.com