Abstract
According to the UN, around 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050. In 2019, roughly 33% of the total population in India lived in cities. The benefits of living in the city are numerous, but happiness does not seem to be one of them. Even though infrastructure, socioeconomic conditions, nutrition and healthcare services are clearly better in cities than in rural areas, living in cities is known to be a great cause of mental stress, leading to higher risk of mental disorders and ultimately impacting people’s life satisfaction. Social stress develops when social density in the city is combined with anonymity and loneliness. Spaces trigger neural responses as we absorb data from our senses, most of it is subconscious. Public spaces of a city have a huge potential to impact a human mind either positively or negatively. This research paper focuses on neuro-urbanism in Indian context. Neuro-urbanism is defined as the application of neuroscience in built spaces, aiming to better comprehend the impact of architecture on the human brain and behavior. Public spaces act as a respite, a pause, and a common ground for people of various castes, religions, and genders, to interact and coexist. Three major types of public spaces found in a city are street, dedicated open parks and public plaza. Two examples of each type are chosen for this study. The methodology followed is online case study. The parameters followed to study the projects are six environmental factors which promote happiness; namely nature, light, surprise, access, identity and sociality. Eye tracking heatmap is used for each project to understand what is driving visual attention of the city-dwellers. This research concludes with design principles learnt from the case studies which would help in designing cities in future which will support healthier, safer and more exciting urban neighborhoods.
