Homo Sapiens’ success has always relied on an intimate understanding of our environment. Yet our knowledge of the impacts of the primary human habitat, the city, remains in its infancy. Psychology, has much to offer our understanding but remains absent in civic strategies. Coventry on the Couch applied ideas published in Psychology and the City: the hidden dimension (Landry and Murray, Comedia, Stroud (2017), to understand these impacts and improve civic strategy, helping to define Coventry’s approach to the redevelopment of its city centre, including: (i) a “psychotherapist in residence” for the city; (ii) psychologically framed interviews and workshops; and (iii) the use of an online “City Personality Test” to survey residents. The project engaged with “The Coventry Plan” team, the city’s main strategic vehicle for future planning and decision making. Recommendations included: (i) flipping the city’s reputation and narrative, positioning it as a leader for psychologically informed design; (ii) thinking about “place” like the Bauhaus did about buildings, integrating disciplines; and (iii) hosting a programme of psychologists in residence, becoming a living laboratory for new design approaches. The project concluded that the application of tools, research and ideas from psychology can significantly improve civic strategy (in this case for urban design), both in Coventry and other towns and cities. This text is based on original work by Chris Murray and Charles Landry with support from Sabine Coady Schäbitz at Coventry University (Coventry Modern Project Director, Associate Professor of Architecture, Curriculum Lead Built Environment, Coventry University).