Accepted Panels

Despite the epigenetic boom in the psy-sciences, the importance of the social and material environment as etiological agents has been paid scant attention. Even when socio-cultural causation of mental disorders is recognised, it is usually somatized and thereby quantified by the psychiatric gaze. This study interprets epigenetics through an ethnographic lens and explores the notion of urban mental health as a particular kind of environ-mental phenomenon. By conducting an exegesis of anthropological literature and primarily ethnographic vignettes, I explore the relevance of the built environment in the lives of urban citizens through the concepts of ‘healing architectures’ and ‘micro-spaces’ of well-being that can provide temporary relief from psychic distress. Through this exegesis, this article asks the following question: What is distinct about the modern metropolis and its multifarious material/social environment that jars the nerves? A question that belongs to not just the jurisdiction of the psychiatrist but also the urban planner and most importantly, the ethnographer.