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People living in housing built in the last 10 years were more likely to report feeling uncomfortable in their home during lockdown, while those in pre-1919 developments were most likely to be comfortable, according to a new report led by UCL researchers. The research team surveyed 2,500 households across the UK to find out how the design of their homes and neighbourhoods affected their experience of lockdown.

Cities which have a balance between facilities, housing and natural green spaces have lower levels of socio-economic inequality in the life satisfaction of its residents, according to new research. ‌ In a European-wide study, led by the University of Glasgow MRC/CSO Social & Public Health Sciences Unit and published today in Social Science & Medicine, scientists found links between urban design and levels of inequality in life satisfaction.

Children living in greener urban neighbourhoods may have better spatial working memory, according to new research by UCL Institute of Education (IOE). Spatial working memory is a measure of how effective people are at orientation and recording information about their environment. It enables us to navigate through a city or remember the position of objects and is strongly inter-related with attentional control.

Exposure to household air pollution from using wood or coal for cooking and heating is associated with higher risk of death from heart attack and stroke, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Around three billion people worldwide use solid fuels (e.g.

Researchers at King's College London, landscape architects J & L Gibbons and art foundation Nomad Projects have used smartphone-based technology to assess the relationship between nature in cities and momentary mental wellbeing in real time. They found that (i) being outdoors, seeing trees, hearing birdsong, seeing the sky, and feeling in contact with nature were associated with higher levels of mental wellbeing, and that (ii) the beneficial effects of nature were especially evident in those individuals with greater levels of impulsivity who are at greater risk of mental health issues.

Scientists have found that much of the Indus thrived around an extinct river, challenging ideas about how urbanisation in ancient cultures evolved. The Indus or Harappan Civilisation was a Bronze Age society that developed mainly in the northwestern regions of South Asia from 5300 to 3300 years ago, at about the same time as urban civilisations developed in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

The study focused on men with high levels of 'bad' cholesterol and no other risk factors or signs of heart disease Previous research has shown the benefit of statins for reducing high cholesterol and coronary heart disease risk amongst different patient populations. However, until now there has been no conclusive evidence from trials for current guidelines on statin usage for people with very high levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (above 190mg/dL) and no established heart disease.

Urban food demand in the Amazon could be hitting wildlife up to 1,000 km away from the city, according to new research. Rapid urbanization in the Brazilian Amazon means over 18 million people are now living in rainforest towns and cities but the impact of this demographic change on wildlife harvested for food, is largely unknown.

Many animal species suffer reduced reproductive success in urban habitats, despite wide-spread supplementation of breeding and feeding opportunities. In some years, the breeding success of city birds is devastatingly low. Biologists have now shown conclusively that in urban blue tits, reduced breeding success is linked to poor nestling diet and in particular to scarcity of caterpillars, their preferred nestling food.

'Heat island' effect could double climate change costs for world's cities Overheated cities face climate change costs at least twice as big as the rest of the world because of the 'urban heat island' effect, new research shows. The study by an international team of economists of all the world's major cities is the first to quantify the potentially devastating combined impact of global and local climate change on urban economies.

Engineering research at The University of Nottingham, UK and Ningbo, China (UNNC) has found laser scanning is a new and viable structural safety technique to detect the damaging effects of fire on concrete. Concrete is the most extensively used construction material worldwide with an average global yearly consumption of 1m3 per person.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) could offer a new non-invasive test for liver damage that could transform the care of patients with cirrhosis, say experts in Nottingham. In a paper published in the Journal of Hepatology , the researchers from The University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust have demonstrated that MRI can be successfully used to estimate the pressure in the circulation of the liver.

A citizen science study has revealed that being next to just one hard surface reduces the diversity of plants and animals in hedgerows. The UK-wide study asked volunteers to record details about hedges both in rural settings, like farmland, and urban settings, like gardens. Nearly 3,000 hedgerows were investigated by members of the public.

The way the ocean transported heat, nutrients and carbon dioxide at the peak of the last ice age, about 20,000 years ago, is significantly different than what has previously been suggested, according to two new studies. The findings suggest that the colder ocean circulated at a very slow rate, which enabled it to store much more carbon for much longer than the modern ocean.

Urban birds are less afraid of litter than their country cousins, according to a new study, which suggests they may learn that litter in cities is not dangerous. The research could help birds to adapt to urban settings better, helping them to survive increasing human encroachment on their habitats.

Lower social cohesion among neighbours and higher crime rates contribute to higher rates of psychotic symptoms among urban children, a new study from researchers at Duke University and King's College London finds. Previous research has also identified higher rates of psychotic symptoms among children in cities.

People who may be exposed to trauma can train themselves to think in a way that could protect them from PTSD symptoms, according to a study from King's College London and Oxford University. Clinical psychologists Rachel White and Jennifer Wild wanted to test whether a way of thinking about situations called concrete processing could reduce the number of intrusive memories experienced after a traumatic event.

A University-led project is testing ways of automatically repairing concrete without human intervention The first major trial of self-healing concrete in the UK, led by a team of researchers from the School of Engineering , is being undertaken at a site in the South Wales Valleys. The project, entitled Materials for Life (M4L), is piloting three separate concrete-healing technologies for the first time in real-world settings, with a view to incorporating them into a single system that could be used to automatically repair concrete in the built environment.

Researchers from Glasgow, Sheffield and Beijing are to work together to study the transformation of China's cities as migrants move from rural to urban environments in greater numbers. International Centre Partnership funding worth £200,000 from the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) will support 27 researchers across three institutions.

When you're prey, being able to spot and assess the threat posed by potential predators is of life-or-death importance. In a paper published today in Animal Behaviour , researchers from the University of Cambridge's Department of Psychology show that wild jackdaws recognise individual human faces, and may be able to tell whether or not predators are looking directly at them.