Spiritual Wellness and the Built Environment

Imagine a world where buildings and cities actively nurture our well-being, not just physically but spiritually. There is a growing awareness of the need for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to wellness strategies in everyday life. This book explores spiritual wellness as a foundational attribute of urban planning and design with the hope of influencing a more flourishing trajectory of development with the built environment. Chapters reflect the beginning of this evolving movement in home and community design that tackles our uniquely modern problems of sedentary lives, unhealthy diets, stress, social isolation, pollution, nature deprivation, and inaccessibility to spiritually nurturing places. The attributes of spiritual wellness are presented as defining characteristics informing design strategies. These specific planning and design strategies are presented through case studies from around the globe that highlight the importance of spiritual wellness considerations at all scales of the built environment, from rooms to cities. This book is essential to help architects, planners, designers, engineers, healthcare providers, project stakeholders, and graduate students embrace and implement a successful wellness design approach.