Healthy architecture: A conceptual framework for the integration of public health into the architectural profession

Rice, Louis

Abstract

The WHO Healthy City strategy places focus on the role the built environment plays as a determinant of health. There is a well-established need for intersectoral work, collaboration and research in order to improve the health of urban populations. Already there is much progress in some built environment professions, for example town-planners and urban designers have integrated public health issues into their professional standards, education and practice. Architecture plays a significant role as a determinant of health, however there is scant attention by the architectural profession of the need to focus on public health. The architecture profession is controlled by national regulatory institutions; these institutions typically mandate the range and scope of knowledge that an architect might require. Internationally, there are almost no regulating bodies that prescribe a specific knowledge of public health for architects. This disinterest in health by the architecture profession is paradoxical. As a society we spend over ninety percent of our time indoors; architectural spaces provide the context for most human experience. There are two objectives of the research; the first is to establish the systematic relationship between public health and architecture. The research strategically connects public health epidemiological evidence related to design at an architectural scale. Secondly the research conceptualizes a framework for the integration of health into the architectural profession. The conceptual framework should provide a roadmap for further research, practice and intersectoral collaboration between the architecture profession and the wider WHO Healthy City community.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: World Health Organisation International Healthy Cities Conference
• Start Date: Oct 1, 2018
• End Date: Oct 4, 2018
• Acceptance Date: Jun 26, 2018
• Publication Date: Oct 4, 2018
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: healthy cities, public health, architecture, wellbeing
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/859086
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : World Health Organisation International Healthy Cities Conference