FOCAL AREA :: HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Human and environmental health and well being are inextricably related. Our focus on environmental design and planning investigates, practices, and values effective strategies for preserving and advancing the health and well being of humans and ecosystems at all scales -- local, regional, and global -- within the long tradition of landscape architecture. We collaborate with diverse communities from schools and neighborhoods to healthcare providers and patients to address these challenges through community planning, restorative design, environmental justice, and inquiries into the role of nature in therapeutic design. We work with public agencies and citizen groups to define policies and practices that would increase the sustainability of healthy communities. We value a synthesis of design and research within an interdisciplinary framework that engages the scholarship and practice of allied fields including environmental psychology, the natural sciences, public health, medicine, social work, and nursing.