A residential street with access to cars blocked at one end Matt Seymour
There is growing evidence that where we live impacts our cognitive health - issues such as air pollution and social isolation have the potential to affect our ability to think clearly, learn and remember. However, there was little awareness found amongst local policy-makers and implementers about how to support cognitive health in neighbourhood planning, in new research published by the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at LSE and the Dementia Research Centre at University College London (UCL).
The new research suggests that those working in local public health and urban planning roles should ensure more meaningful engagement with communities in order to create neighbourhoods that support healthy cognitive functioning, and to support the prevention of cognitive diseases such as dementia in later life.
Funded by the Health Foundation, researchers spoke with members of the general public and representative groups from chosen communities, as well as people working in public health and urban policy. Cognitive health, sometimes known as brain health, was defined to participants in the study as the ability to think clearly, learn and remember, and was identified as important for skills such as planning, organising, concentrating, problem solving, creativity and judgement.
Communities identified neighbourhood-related factors including pollution, traffic and noise, social and cultural interactions, access to nature and green spaces, and the upkeep and safety of public spaces and buildings as influences on their cognitive health.
Participants were able to identify direct effects of their neighbourhood on their brain functioning, and could suggest ways their own neighbourhoods could be improved to support cognitive health.
The research emphasises that solutions include better consultation and involvement in policy and planning for communities, improved support for community interactions, green and clean public spaces and active and public transport, and education on cognition and brain health.
Professor Martin Knapp, Professor of Health and Social Care Policy and LSE lead for the project Novel methods to explore the value of cognitive health in a place, emphasised that: “The cognitive damage from air pollution is insidious but largely overlooked. Engaging policy communities in this area is so important, as demonstrated by our research findings.”
Dr Madeleine Stevens, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow and lead author of the article, said: “Members of the public and policymakers mainly agree about how neighbourhoods could be improved to support better cognitive health. However, we found that people often do not feel listened to by policymakers. We suggest that local people could be more effectively involved in developing less polluted, greener, cleaner and more socially integrated neighbourhoods that support better public health, including cognitive health.”