In progress, an urban square in Oakville, Ontario, Canada which Farrow is designing. Growing out of the concept of a ‘Sense of Coherence’ and salutogenesis, as articulated by Aaron Antonovsky in his book “Health, Stress and Coping”. Salutogenesis focuses on what causes health as opposed to what prevents disease.

In contemporary modern urban life there is often a growing disconnect – the incongruence, if you will – between what we need on a basic, personal, human level, and what our cities provide us with, on both a social and environmental level.

How can we come (back) to a more coherent concept of urban life? And how can more interlinked, consciously human-focused design of our individual, social and environmental spaces contribute to this?

For example, how can we design our cities to make them more intuitive and comprehensible? How can we make our neighbourhoods more accessible and flexible, offering greater manageability?

How can we make our urban places more inviting, where we reconnect with nature and its restorative effects through our body movements, thoughts, memories, and interactions with other people?

How can we authentically root a place in history and ensure its alignment with the present and the future to generate meaning? These are questions we are exploring on this pivotal urban transformation project in order to create an enhanced sense of coherence.