Bringing brain health home: the importance of housing and the urban environment for building this generation’s brain health

ABSTRACT

Brain health is not simply the absence of disease but the sum total of our physical, emotional, social and cognitive health. Brain health is strongly influenced by the social and physical environment, the surroundings and conditions in which we live. In this commentary we discuss the concept of Brain Health and Housing, a novel addition to our understanding of brain health, and how and why housing and the built environment are important determinants of brain health across the life course. While this is a novel concept, it is founded on accepted and emerging evidence of the impact of our environment on neurological, physical and mental health and provides and an additional and important lens to the public health approach to dementia risk reduction and the safeguarding of brain health.

KEYWORDS:

• Brain health
• housing
• environment
• neuroarchitecture
• neuroplasticity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All authors contributed equally to the development, drafting, editing and approval of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brian Lawlor

Brian Lawlor, is a professor of old age psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin, and Site Director of GBHI at Trinity. He is a geriatric psychiatrist with an interest in dementia, late-life depression, loneliness and brain health. Brian has worked for over 30 years on developing services and delivering care to people with dementia. His research interests range from early detection and prevention to evaluating new treatments for dementia.

Thomas Grey

Thomas Grey, With 10 years in architectural practice working in sustainable design, he is now a Research fellow in TrinityHaus, where he is currently involved in a variety of urban design and building design research projects, all with a user-centred and sustainable design focus. The projects range from a Low Carbon Adaptable Home project to larger scale shared space design through a Universal Design approach or a sustainability indicator project for the Dublin region. In all cases the human as user is central to these projects with an emphasis on user-centred, Universally Designed, occupant behaviour-driven design solutions.

Eoin J. Cotter

Eoin J. Cotter, As program lead at GBHI Trinity, Eoin works to lead the coordination of the Institutes training and education activities, including the Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health fellowship. He is involved in developing and leading projects and partnerships supporting GBHI’s research, training, advocacy and thought leadership strategy.

Macarena Espina Diaz

Macarena Espina Diaz, Director Viviendo con Demencia I+D (Living with Dementia R+D) Design Studio. Leads, coordinates and/or collaborates on several inter and transdisciplinary projects. Her interest and work as a designer are focused on understanding the needs of users in situations of vulnerability, such as people with dementia, caregivers, and people with disabilities; and on the development of products, services, strategies, systems, and design methodologies with an inclusive approach, that allows us to address complex problems, and facilitate representation, transfer of information, and solutions of public interest.

Ian H. Robertson

Ian H. Robertson, is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin (1999–2016) and was the founding Director of Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, as well as Dean of Research of Trinity College, from 2004–2007. Ian is Founding Director of GBHI at Trinity.