How boring streets affect us

From Aeon, on whether urban design is a matter of health: "Collectively, studies of both extreme and moderate forms of environmental deprivation provide compelling evidence that boring environments can generate stress, impulsivity, lowered levels of positive affect and risky behaviour. At this point, we simply don't know the extent to which such effects might be produced by simple daily exposure to poorly designed urban environments or building interiors because the studies have not yet been done."