The Power of Talk : Creating Space for Social Interaction to Build Stress-Resilience

Sammanfattning: Mental health issues are an increasing public health problem in Sweden and the most common reason for sick leave. As many preventive measures take a reactive approach, this thesis argues for more preventive work done at an earlier stage. Even though young adults and students feel more stress than other groups, there is a lack of preventive measures for this group. To build stress-resilience in society long term, thus minimizing sick leave, this thesis suggest an enhanced focus on stress prevention for young adults and students. Umeå, with its young population, being the context. By focusing on how architecture can facilitate early stress prevention through social interaction, the thesis’ purpose is to investigate what further aspects and spatial tools could be relevant for preventing negative stress.    Combined with desk-based research, the investigative method has been the architect’s tool of talk, socially interacting with context relevant users and actors. The process included: 1) mapping of a student association, 2) informal group interviews through podcast sessions, set in different spatial contexts, 3) raising and discussing issue with a potential actor and 4) experiencing an existing preventive measure in context. During these moments, spatial aspects relevant for preventing negative stress were collected.   Complementing social interaction, the most commonly discussed aspects, with previous studies of being stress preventive, were knowledge and nature. Having established these three main themes, facilitating architectural tools could be identified.    The findings from the explorative method results in an architectural proposal including a city scale concept and a permanent building program. The city scale concept suggest a permanent-mobile building relationship for flexibility in reach and continued spatial investigations around the city enabling for further improvements. The building program suggests different levels of social interaction integrated by the stress relieving architectural tools.   This thesis finds that by integrating spatial tools facilitating social interaction, knowledge and nature, it is possible to create spatial conditions for early preventing negative stress. The thesis also provides a potential strategy for finding spatial tools answering to an issue in society.   As younger generations are more immersed in digital space, this thesis suggests future studies on the relationship between digital and physical space in relation to social interaction.