Good mental health is related to mental and psychological well-being, and there is growing interest in the potential role of the built environment on mental health, yet the evidence base underpinning the direct or indirect effects of the built environment is not fully clear. The aim of this overview is to assess the effect of the built environment on mental health-related outcomes. Methods. This study provides an overview of published systematic reviews (SRs) that assess the effect of the built environment on mental health. We reported the overview according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Databases searched until November 2019 included the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EMBASE, MEDLINE (OVID 1946 to present), LILACS, and PsycINFO. Two authors independently selected reviews, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality of included reviews using the Assessing Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR-2). Results. In total, 357 records were identified from a structured search of five databases combined with the references of the included studies, and eleven SRs were included in the narrative synthesis. Outcomes included mental health and well-being, depression and stress, and psychological distress. According to AMSTAR-2 scores, the quality assessment of the included SRs was categorized as “high” in two SRs and as “critically low” in nine SRs. According to the conclusions of the SRs reported by the authors, only one SR reported a “beneficial” effect on mental health and well-being outcomes. Conclusion. There was insufficient evidence to make firm conclusions on the effects of built environment interventions on mental health outcomes (well-being, depression and stress, and psychological distress). The evidence collected reported high heterogeneity (outcomes and measures) and a moderate- to low-quality assessment among the included SRs.

Socio-spatial concerns are gaining increasing attention in the design of interventions for urban mobility. This is especially true in contexts traditionally characterized by structural inequality and high levels of poverty, in which transport can be a decisive contributor to development thanks to its contribution to a higher social inclusion. Amongst them, Latin America has emerged as a significant laboratory for urban and transport policy due not only to its socioeconomic conditions but also to the implementation of different mobility strategies based on the construction of traditional and innovative infrastructures such as subways and bus rapid transit (BRT) systems. These two transport systems can be complementary or alternative to each other: this depends not only on their transport capacity, their economic sustainability, and to their levels of public acceptability but also on social, political, and spatial features of the setting they serve. This paper intends to discuss the socio-spatial consequences that interventions based on different transport systems can generate, examining them in the city of Quito, Ecuador. The discussion is based on the implementation of the existing BRT network and of a subway line under construction. Reconstructing two contrasting transport policies developed in the city in the last 25 years, this paper proposes an overview of the socio-spatial concerns that influenced and were influenced by urban mobility planning in Quito. To do so, this paper reviews and compares the socio-spatial concerns related to BRT and subway corridors, considering their accessibility, the wider urban transformations they promote, their economic sustainability, and the overall public acceptability, estimating to what extent these have influenced the decision to implement a certain transport policy.

Cada situación posdesastre genera disgregación socio-espacial. La ruptura del tejido urbano determina la pérdida del equilibrio entre la estructura  arquitectónica público-privada y su comunidad; o sea, individuos que comparten una manera de habitar, producto de una compleja mezcla de hábitos relacionales en espacios especíñcos. El rol de las distancias que existen entre edificios y que conforman el espacio público, asume una importancia central para la recuperación dela dignidad social y dela identidad urbana. En este sentido, se subraya la necesidad de tomar en cuenta tales distancias en proyectos de reconstrucción, al ser fundamentales para traducir las actividades de la población y sus interacciones humanas en dimensiones concretas. Estos ítems físicos se suman al tramo temporal que caracteriza el proceso de reconstrucción. Las etapas de estas acciones reflejan situaciones socio-espaciales con problemáticas de diferentes niveles. Por lo tanto, los procedimientos a corto, mediano y largo plazos, generan categorías aplicativas con sus propios objetivos sociales: esperanza, oportunidad y visión urbana que influyen directamente en la calidad socio-espacial de Ia reconstrucción. Sin  embargo, al ser eventos extraordinarios los procesos de intervención involucran un número muy alto de sujetos que trabajan con el objetivo de reconstruir una ciudad y regenerar una sociedad, en otras palabras reactivar el sistema urbano. En el artículo se quiere dar una lectura alternativa delos mecanismos de procesos y de proyecto en función delas acciones top-down ybottom-up (distancia institucional) y acciones de reconstrucción (distancias físicos-temporales).

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