Environmental and Urban Design Factors in Aging Mental Health: Built Environment, Perceived Quality, and Late-Life Depression and Anxiety

The rapid growth of the older population in urban areas has made it critical to understand how the physical and social characteristics of neighborhoods shape late-life mental health. Depression and anxiety are among the most common mental disorders in older adults, yet the role of environmental and urban design factors remains underexplored compared with individual-level risk factors. This Research Topic aims to advance knowledge on the associations between neighborhood built environments, perceived environmental quality, and depressive and anxiety symptoms in aging populations. We seek contributions that move beyond single environmental exposures to examine how objective features of the urban landscape (such as residential density, street connectivity, land use mix, public space quality, traffic safety, noise, and air pollution) interact with older adults' subjective perceptions and daily experiences. We also encourage research that identifies behavioral, social, and psychological pathways linking environment to mental health outcomes, including physical activity, social engagement, restorative experiences, and perceived control. By bringing together multidisciplinary perspectives, this collection will inform age-friendly urban design and public mental health strategies.Urbanization and population aging are two defining demographic trends of the 21st century. Older adults are particularly sensitive to their immediate residential environments because of reduced mobility, longer time spent in the neighborhood, and greater reliance on local services and social networks. A growing body of evidence suggests that attributes of the built environment, including walkability, green space, housing quality, and community safety, are associated with mental health outcomes. However, much of this work has focused on general adult populations or on single environmental domains, leaving important gaps in understanding how multiple urban design factors jointly influence late-life depression and anxiety. Moreover, subjective perceptions of the environment may differ systematically from objective measures and may be more proximal determinants of emotional well-being. There is a need for research that integrates objective and perceived environmental assessments and that considers the unique vulnerabilities and resources of older adults.We welcome original research, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, brief research reports, and conceptual or methodological papers addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:- Associations between neighborhood built environment characteristics (e.g., density, street connectivity, land use, public open space, transportation infrastructure) and late-life depression or anxiety.- The role of perceived environmental quality, such as perceived safety, noise annoyance, air quality, aesthetics, and neighborhood disorder, in older adults' mental health.- Behavioral and psychosocial mechanisms linking environment to mental health, including physical activity, sedentary behavior, social participation, loneliness, and sense of control.- Interaction effects between objective and subjective environmental measures, or between environmental factors and individual vulnerabilities (e.g., cognitive decline, mobility limitations).- Longitudinal, quasi-experimental, or intervention studies examining changes in urban design and their impact on aging mental health.- Cross-cultural or comparative studies from diverse geographic and socioeconomic contexts.Manuscripts should emphasize implications for urban planning, public health policy, or clinical practice with older adults. Topic editors: Xinru Huang, Wenbo Li, Changwoo Shon Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85709/environmental-and-urban-design-factors-in-aging-mental-health-built-environment-perceived-quality-and-late-life-depression-and-anxiety