Aesthetic components of urban environments and their relation to wellbeing: a scoping review

Urban environments present a range of potential benefits for wellbeing through their design and aesthetics. However, there is a lack of comprehensive overview on how man-made components of public outdoor urban environments (e.g. art, buildings, streets, traffic noise), have previously been studied regarding aesthetics and wellbeing. To this end, we performed a scoping review to identify the breadth and depth of research on the topic by synthesising the evidence from pre-existing literature. Scopus, Web of Science and PsycINFO databases were searched, and papers were screened based on three concepts: Urban (man-made) components, Aesthetics, and Wellbeing. In total, 255 articles related to urban aesthetics were identified, 122 of which were also related to wellbeing. The results show the prevalence and diversity in man-made components, aesthetic dimensions, and wellbeing dimensions studied in relation to the urban environment; and provide an overview of the methods applied when studying such environments. Along with the synthesis highlighting trends found in urban research, a dataset (freely available on OSF) summarising extracted information is provided. This review and dataset offer: (1) guidelines for urban researchers in planning future studies (primary and secondary), and (2) the basis to assess the aesthetic and wellbeing potential of urban components when designing our urban environments.