WP 6 will develop a historical database of urban environmental characteristics and examine how they influence mental health and cognitive outcomes by shaping lifestyle behaviours.

Objectives

  1. To develop a historical database of urban physical environmental characteristics that may influence mental health outcomes and cognitive functioning, as well as potential mediating health behaviours (physical activity, smoking and alcohol), starting in 1990 (the start of several cohort studies included in the project) for participating cities in Europe, the US and Canada
  2. To investigate the effect of urban physical environmental characteristics on mental health and cognitive outcomes within and between cities using fixed-effects models
  3. To examine the extent to which the urban physical environment relates to mental health and cognitive outcomes via health behaviours using causal mediation analyses

Work package leader Frank van Lenthe, Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam