Smart Cities and Mental Health: A Thematic Review of Environmental, Digital, and Social Determinants.

Smart Cities, urban environments that integrate digital technologies to enhance sustainability, accessibility, and quality of life, are expanding globally. While these initiatives may support population health, their mental health impacts remain understudied and inconsistently reported. This thematic synthesis review integrates diverse forms of evidence to examine how Smart City features influence mental health outcomes and explores contextual factors and underlying mechanisms shaping these effects. Following PRISMA guidelines for qualitative evidence syntheses, a systematic search of Web of Science identified 36 peer-reviewed studies published between 2009 and 2024 that addressed Smart City components in relation to mental health outcomes in urban populations. Studies were thematically synthesized. Three key domains emerged: (1) Smart City features relate to mental health through access to green infrastructure, digital technologies, and transportation systems; (2) contextual vulnerabilities including digital exclusion, gender, age, and socioeconomic status moderate these relationships; and (3) mechanisms include environmental exposure, surveillance anxiety, sensory design, and cultural or relational dynamics embedded in Smart City systems. Findings suggest that Smart Cities can either promote or undermine mental health depending on how technologies are implemented, accessed, and experienced. To ensure Smart City development supports psychological wellbeing, future research should prioritize interdisciplinary collaboration, equity-informed planning, and integration of mental health expertise from the outset.