An Integrated Approach to Environmental Awareness to Help Maintain Personal Well-Being
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Authors
Tower, Alexandra
Issue Date
2005
Type
Capstone
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This paper compares and contrasts culturally diverse lifestyle philosophies and sciences that attempt to explain the effect of built environments on the human experience. The purpose of this inquiry is two-fold: first, it examines how external environments affect our physical, emotional, and spiritual health, and second, it examines how cultivating a personal and communal awareness of this effect can result in sustained well-being. Results show that schools of thought
ranging from Eastern spatial understandings (Feng Shui, Vastu, and Wabi Sabi) to Shamanistic practice in Bali to the building science of Germany share a fundamental essence that self and environment are inextricably linked and that change to one results in change in the other. Research on healing environments has produced a similar finding, resulting in the creation of a list of four design factors that have been shown to improve health, but this relationship remains
narrowly attached to hospitals and health centers only. Using this shared essence, an expanded definition of environment will be created, clarifying the interdependence of person (individual), people (community), and place (nature or external realm) and suggesting that for personal healing to occur, all spaces must be viewed as living environments.