Healing Cityscapes: Therapeutic Interstitial Urban Design for Health and Wellbeing

The provision of accessible and quality outdoor spaces are essential for mental health and wellbeing. Within the shifting contexts of global pandemics, the climate emergency, and densification of cities, more people than ever are being disconnected from their environments and are suffering from mental illnesses. Therapeutic landscape research has indicated that outdoor spaces designed for rehabilitation can improve users’ mental health, wellbeing, and recovery from illnesses. Whilst the application of this research is currently only understood in medical facilities, literature suggests the potential for a similar approach to be implemented in urban spaces for the benefit of the public. With increasingly limited space in city centres, this thesis will investigate the possibility of utilising urban interstitial spaces as locations for therapeutic landscape design where local communities can directly benefit. This research will adopt a design-led case study approach, encompassing several interstitial spaces (spaces between structures or objects, often abandoned or leftover after planning) within the Auckland CBD. Multidisciplinary literature review and analysis of existing case studies will be conducted to investigate the application of therapeutic landscape design in urban settings. Anticipated findings from this research include speculative design solutions for quality outdoor spaces that enhance wellbeing and foster a sense of belonging among urban residents. These design solutions could set an example of how unutilised and underutilised spaces in cities can be reimagined for the wellbeing of local communities.