Again, we find that human health is inseparable from safe, effective, and culturally responsive land use.
Below is a fascinating review of the mental health outcomes of poor transportation infrastructure, and the results should not surprise: well-designed and maintained transportation options greatly improve long-term wellbeing in our communities.
The colloquial answer to our mental health crisis is psychotherapy. While therapy has an indisputable place in mental health treatment, our therapists and their clients are burdened by a world overdue for systems-level changes. Human health has always been tied to the landscapes we navigate daily; if those landscapes are underfunded, unmaintained, and don’t serve their communities effectively, we see poor outcomes replicated over generations.
While it is easy to argue for a therapist per person, we can improve mental health outcomes faster by making changes in high-leverage areas of health, such as better infrastructure.