Are you mad to love city living?

Andrew Purcell, online producer

(Image: Boris Lyubner/Getty)

What does living in a city do to your brain? It was with a slight sense of foreboding that I agreed to attend last night?s discussion event aiming to answer that question.

The reason for my unease was simple: having recently traded the snow-capped mountains and crystalline lakes of a small village in southern Germany for the skyscrapers and concrete skies of central London, I was nervous that the evening?s discussion would cast doubt upon the wisdom of my decision to head for the city. Steeling myself, I dodged through the rush-hour traffic and packed myself, accompanied by my ever-growing sense of trepidation, into the tangled web of sweaty armpits and flailing limbs of a packed underground carriage.

The choice of The Assembly, a small east London venue, for the discussion heightened my trepidation: the building is disquietingly close to the site of Bethlem Royal Hospital, popularly known as Bedlam - the world?s first and most notorious mental institution.

Novelist Will Self, one of the evening?s two main speakers, gave the audience a whistle-stop tour of Bedlam?s 800-year history.

There were a variety of ?conditions? that could land someone in Bedlam, he told us, including giving birth to a child out of wedlock, harbouring socialist sympathies, or simply being poor. If you were unlucky enough to land up in the notorious institution, you could look forward to treatments ranging from lobotomies and electro-shock therapy, to infection with malaria, to induced insulin comas, to the ancient art of whipping and restraint.

Bringing things up-to-date, Self suggested that London's fetish for CCTV cameras, despite their ability to prevent crime being entirely unproven, is a symptom of paranoia. And those people walking along the city?s streets chatting into small hands-free microphones certainly give the outward appearance of being insane. ?A Victorian mental patient released today would feel right at home,? he joked.

But does living in the urban environment change your brain? The evening?s second speaker, science writer Alok Jha, toured through the current research on the topic. A recent paper published in Nature looked into some of the differences in brain activity found between city dwellers and those living in rural areas. The researchers, based at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, found that activity in regions of the brain involved in the regulation of anxiety and emotion was higher for those living in urban areas. They speculate that this could be one of the reasons for the higher prevalence of mental disorders in city dwellers.

"There?s a 39 per cent increase in mood disorders, a 21 per cent increase in anxiety disorders and people in cities have double the rate of schizophrenia," explained Jha.

Researchers from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, argue that a perceived lack of control over one?s daily life may be the reason some people feel more stressed in urban environments. Jha explained how simple urban planning techniques and the use of green spaces could easily dramatically improve the quality of life in cities such as London.? And, with almost 70 per cent of the world?s population expected to live in urban areas by 2050, investment in such techniques is increasingly worthwhile.

Alongside the excellent talks, themed food and drinks were on offer from the Blanch & Shock food design team, who were behind one of the courses at this month?s Eat Rich or Die Trying event at London?s Kemistry gallery. Among the treats on offer were a rich chocolate cake, representing the one of the many addictions of modern urbanites, and a cocktail appropriately named "lunacy".

While Self and Jha highlighted the stress and mental difficulties of daily London life, I left happy with my decision to join the world?s ever-growing number of urbanites. At? least living in the city means that there are great events like this to keep you entertained on a Monday night.

What does living in London do to your brain? was the first in The Assembly and Container?s Monday Club 2012 series of events.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1cd2854e/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cculturelab0C20A120C0A20Care0Eyou0Emad0Eto0Elove0Ecity0Eliving0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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