With nearly half of Europeans experiencing emotional or psychosocial challenges within the past year, mental health has become a defining issue across the EU.
In this context, cities emerge as pivotal actors in addressing mental health needs. As highlighted in the latest Eurocities report, urban areas are uniquely positioned to lead the charge in addressing mental health challenges, bridging gaps in healthcare and tackling social, economic, and environmental factors that contribute to mental distress.
How to improve mental health in cities
The truth is urban environments present both risks and opportunities for addressing mental health. High population density, economic inequalities, and environmental stressors are common in cities and can exacerbate mental health risks. However, cities also offer resources for social connection, cultural engagement, and innovative interventions that extend beyond traditional healthcare, in some cases to fill gaps often caused by inaccessible and under-resourced national mental health services.
In practice, addressing mental health requires involving multiple city departments as the issue intersects with areas such as social care, education, housing, culture, and urban design. Features like green spaces, accessible public transportation, and safe communal areas are essential for reducing anxiety and fostering the residents’ well-being.
For example, in Ljubljana, outdoor spaces around the University Medical Center and the Oncology Institute are being redesigned to foster the wellbeing of both patients and healthcare workers. Similarly, Glasgow is facilitating structured community discussions to help residents evaluate how their neighbourhoods meet their needs, enabling a collective approach to improve urban spaces.
Efforts to integrate green spaces into urban life are further transforming mental health support in cities. Rotterdam’s Green Connection project, for instance, creates accessible walking routes to connect residents with nature, promoting physical activity and mental wellbeing. Espoo’s Central Park offers a carefully designed path where visitors can engage in exercises while enjoying the calming effects of nature. Zagreb has embraced a similar approach with its Therapeutic Garden, which provides a serene environment for individuals with disabilities to enhance their mental health. In Berlin and London, urban green spaces have also proven instrumental in fostering social inclusion for vulnerable groups, including migrants and asylum seekers.
Holistic approaches to better well-being
Beyond urban planning, cities drive innovative solutions that blend creativity, employment support, and inclusive policies. In Cluj-Napoca, a pilot initiative used artistic interventions to help individuals overcome burnout, while Stockholm uses job coaching to facilitate the employment of people with long-term mental health challenges. Barcelona has implemented a comprehensive Mental Health Plan that includes internal guidelines to support city employees, and Helsinki is prioritizing youth mental health by developing collaborative service chains. Meanwhile, Toulouse is adapting the Housing First model to address mental health and addiction issues among homeless youth, and Birmingham supports a project led by the NGO ‘The Delicate Mind’ that works with Muslim communities to address mental health.
Some cities have embraced unique cultural approaches to mental health. Brussels’ Museums on Prescription program enables doctors to prescribe free museum visits as part of treatment for anxiety, depression, and stress, integrating cultural engagement into healthcare. In Katowice, a long-running therapy studio and rehabilitation centre has been offering tailored mental health services, combining psychological support with physical therapy. These programs demonstrate how cities can create holistic interventions that directly address the diverse needs of their residents.
A call for support
The report highlights, however, that the local level faces significant barriers in addressing mental health, ranging from limited statutory competencies, financial resources, human capacity shortages and gaps in data, which are limiting the effectiveness of local measures.
As mental health disorders now affect around 84 million people in the EU, costing more than €600 billion annually, according to the European Commission, it is clear that cities cannot tackle this issue in isolation. The Eurocities report identifies critical gaps in funding, coordination and data collection, which limit the effectiveness of city-level interventions. It also stresses the need for enhanced cooperation between cities, national governments and EU institutions to build a more resilient mental health infrastructure that addresses acute needs and long-term prevention.
Key recommendations include increased funding, allocating financial resources to enable cities to implement sustainable mental health programs, streamlined governance, improving coordination and clarifying roles between city and national governments, and capacity building, providing tools, training, and data to equip city-level practitioners.
A vision for resilient cities
Mental health is an integral aspect of overall health. It is not only a precondition for individual well-being; it is a critical public health concern with profound economic and social implications that impact every aspect of the economy and society and go beyond individual and family issues. According to the World Health Organization, about 90% of health inequalities can be explained by financial insecurity, social exclusion, lack of a decent job, poor working conditions, and poor-quality housing.
Integrating mental health into the European Pillar of Social Rights, streamlined coordination, clarified competencies and increased funding will provide cities with the necessary tools and resources to deliver mental health support that is accessible and responsive to the specific needs of their residents and develop holistic approaches.
You can read the full report here.
