This madness has to stop #RussiaUkraineWar

This madness has to stop.The sustainable solution is an immediate peace treaty with a decisive&clear #NeutralUkraine & a #NeutralZone of potentially seven states #Finland #Estonia #Latvia #Ukraine #Georgia #Azerbaijan & yes #Belarus.Peace is worth comprising for.#RussiaUkraineWar

Neither #Nato nor #Russia can use the lands of the #Neutralzone to attack each other or for any warfare #NeutralUkraine #Itisnevertoolateforpeace #Peaceisworthcompromisingfor #WeStandWithUkraine #Westandwithpeace #RussiaUkraineWar

Psychology & Design – Asking the wrong questions

 

Written by: Hasan Algarhy

There has been a significantly rising interest in the topic of psychology and design, mainly to answer the question: How can we design better mental health in our cities, homes, and buildings. An increasing number of research and studies are being published, and new experimentation methods and research approaches are being developed and introduced.

Yet, a fairly significant differentiation should be highlighted when approaching the topic. Three main categories should be well understood and acknowledged.

·         Urban design for mental health (Sometimes referred to as Urban Psychology)

·         Architecture & psychology.

·         Interior design & psychology.

While there is a common ground between the three categories, there are fundamental differences between them and respectively in terms of the design elements and in our approach to design for better mental health and wellbeing. Apparently, there are differences between designing for mental health in an interior space and designing for mental health on an urban scale. Architecture is a third category, where the differentiation could be less obvious. Yet, there are different parameters to consider when approaching each of these categories.  

A good example of that would be the connection to nature and biophilic design, which could be considered a common ground between the three categories. Yet the design elements would be different; for example, interior designs would focus on the indoor plants and relevant accessories. On an architecture scale, it would be more towards green walls, green roofs, and nature integration in courtyards, including greeneries and water features. On an urban scale, the designers would design green landscapes, parks, urban trees, fountains, water features, etc.   

Another example would be art, where the design elements on an interior design scale would be artworks, wall art, accessories, and even artistic furniture. On an architecture scale, the design of the building and its form could aim at creating an artistic and iconic design. Another example would be the features and design elements on the façades. A huge variety of possibilities is available on an urban scale, starting from street arts like graffiti to designing dedicated zones for artists and musicians, designing artistic outdoor furniture, pocket parks, linear parks, etc. It is worth mentioning that artistic design elements for mental health and wellbeing are not necessarily costly. There are many examples of simple yet very aesthetic design elements achieving the goal. Recycled, recyclable, and sustainable material is a good and effective approach.

Thoroughly understanding the common ground and differentiation between these three categories would help better design for mental health and wellbeing. Given that these are three different specialties, we do not expect an interior designer to go for an architecture or an urban design job and vice versa, especially when dealing with designs for wellbeing and mental health.   

Positive Psychological Impact Design Elements 

The psychology of making enemies - Evolutionarily speaking

The evolution of emotions is something that Charles Darwin himself explored”. Darwin is seen as the founder of the evolutionary approach to emotions. He said that emotions were evolutionarily evolved and that they were here to serve an important survival purpose. He actually argued that emotions have evolved via natural selection and serve this purpose for humans’ survival and helping aid in communications and bonds with others. For Darwin, emotion had an evolutionary history that could be traced across cultures and species.

Unfortunately, the mechanism of the “psychological natural selection” has sort of a glitch. Unlike biological natural selection, some of the psychological traits that served an important survival purpose thousands or even hundreds of years are not required anymore and could be very harmful. While having an extra ear muscle or a legacy of a tail does not really hurt or does not usually cause harm, having an ugly psychological legacy like a mentality of creating enemies does cause a lot of harm.

While removing a wisdom tooth can cause you some pain for a few days, getting rid of an evolved psychological trait is not that easy, and lots of harm could be caused in the process. The need for creating enemies had been required to serve a survival purpose while our ancestors were in the savannas. This trait is, by default, violence generating and, respectively, war generating. And if you are lucky enough, this trait would be tuned down to creating sort of social enemies, enemies at your work or business, for example, or even within your family, which is pretty sad, to say the least. The relatively good news, though, is that we do have some sort of control over changing this trait and evolving beyond it. It is not a walk in the park, and we do need a more systematic approach to change the negative and harmful psychological legacies of our evolution.

More about the topic and evolution of emotions in my book: Quantizing Emotions (The basic mathematics of psychology)

Designing walkable cities in hot & arid climates

 Designing walkable cities in hot & arid climates like the GCC region could be very challenging. Through this workshop, I recommended five solutions:

1. Studying the aerodynamics of the city or district and accordingly using design techniques to achieve better      ventilation as building orientations, cross ventilation, open courtyards, wind catchers, etc.

2. Urban trees & plantation as a very effective tool.

3. Using shade structures with the proper specifications and design.

4. Using outdoor air ventilation systems when applicable.

5. Working on reducing the heat island effect starting from the design stage and selecting material with high solar reflectance.

I would love to hear other suggestions from urban designers and architects for designing walkable cities in hot and arid climates.

Designing a psychologically healthy outdoor environment

 The outdoor environment has an essential role in promoting a psychologically healthy lifestyle.

Designing and executing outdoor spaces that promote an active lifestyle, inclusivity, aesthetics & sustainability is one of our primary duties as architects and designers.

Every design target of these probably requires an entire course. For some quick tips:

Inclusivity: Ensuring that the design accommodates all ages, genders, and abilities, especially considering the requirements of people with special needs (Beautifully called in UAE people of determination). 

Active lifestyle & aesthetics: The design should promote activities like cycling, jogging, and exercising towards walkability & bikeability of cities, where cities should be designed for humans, not cars. The designers should develop their skills to design aesthetically, incorporating natural elements like plants, water features, etc., with other design elements.

Sustainability: Simply applying the “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle” concept. Not just in encouraging the users of the space to apply it. But to consider it in every single aspect of the design, specifically in the used material. There are tons of recycled outdoor materials which could be specified and incorporated into the designs.