Psychoanalyzing a city brings together a range of tools from different branches of psychology, urbanism, anthropology and cultural development as well as mental health practice to bear on the challenges and reveal the opportunities facing a city. The psychological techniques include: behaviourism, conflict resolution, therapeutic assessment and healing as well as advances in neuroscience. Contact us under urbanpsyche@gmail.com if you want to explore this further.

The atmosphere of a city and its overall psychological state largely determine its chances of success or strategic capacities but these are notoriously hard to measure. Our approach can help establish and deliver integrated programmes or specific interventions as solutions to particular problems a city faces, perhaps a city’s lack of confidence or more broadly how a successful vision for a city’s future can be implemented.

You can ask us to analyze with you the results of your online surveys, or with you undertake group meetings and workshops in your city or neighbourhoods or undertake a more comprehensive assessment. This includes:

• A bespoke, multi-disciplinary team is brought together based on the specific nature and needs of the city, including: city experts, psychologists, leading-edge academic expertise, data analysts and others as required.
• Innovative online tests and surveys including The City Personality Test, already trialled in 11 cities internationally with successful results.
• Other surveys, such as stress analysis, on how the city is affecting the emotional state of its inhabitants in specific communities or across different demographics.
• Interviews with key parties, both suggested by the city and our team.
• Collective workshops, drawn from a cross section of the city, and not just the ‘usual suspects’.
• Data analysis, e.g. of physical and mental health data, broken down demographically, geographically and across a timeline for the city.
• An analysis of the life history and life events of the city that may shape and contribute to its current condition, and may provide a platform or barriers to its future success.
• The above is balanced with other revealing, interesting and creative techniques like psycho-geography or the use of art, literature and history to reveal underlying or innovative narratives of a city that can help a city become the best it can be.