My Perfect City: Mental health in Singapore

People who live in cities are more likely to experience mental health problems than their rural counterparts. Has Singapore found a solution to improving its citizens’ wellbeing that other cities should follow? Greening urban areas, creating therapeutic gardens and high amenity public spaces, encouraging physical exercise as well as housing security and social services aim to reduce rates of common disorders such as OCD, anxiety and depression. Fi Glover and panellists Dr Ellie Cosgrave, director of the UCL Urban Laboratory, and urbanist Abha Joshi Ghani test the credentials of Singapore’s initiatives. Is it a mental health blueprint for our imagined urban utopia? The team also consider Dubai’s ambition to be the “world’s happiest city”.