Jenny Roe
Director of the Center for Design + Health

Jenny Roe is the inaugural Mary Irene DeShong Professor of Design and Health and the Director of the Center of Design and Health with a multi-disciplinary background in the humanities, design and environmental psychology. She is the former Senior Research Leader in Human Wellbeing and Behaviour Change for the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) where she worked with environmental scientists and health professionals to explore how best to build sustainable, resilient and healthy cities.

Jenny is a Landscape Architect and Environmental Psychologist who explores the interactions between people and their environment. She is a specialist researcher in restorative environments and places that actively improve our health, such as high quality urban parks, water settings, and well designed buildings with good daylight. She has built a reputation for pioneering innovative methods in disadvantaged communities in order to quantify the health benefits of good neighborhood design and green space, using physiological indicators such as cortisol – the stress hormone – and mobile Electroencephalography (EEG) to explore emotional activity on the move.

Prior to her current career in academia, she was Principal Landscape Architect in a multi-disciplinary architectural practice in London called Sprunt specializing in social housing, educational and healthcare design. Access to all her publications, blog postings and films can be found at jennyjroe.com.