ABSTRACT
This volume is about people who are afflicted with dementia, about nature and outdoor environments, and about the relationship between them. There are special problems associated with providing care for cognitively impaired persons and support to their families; these problems are recognized by researchers, funding agencies and care providers. We view this collection of articles as a contribution to the task of expanding the knowledge base for the design of outdoor environments for people with Alzheimer's disease and other kinds of dementia. While we consider the outdoors to be essential component in the intervention efforts in dementia care, we have a complementary task to set limits on what are believed to be achievable goals in the care for this population. As Lawton and Rubinstein have cautioned us: "For a condition whose biological substratum is irreversible, it is tempting to foster unrealistic hope that is good for neither science nor families with an impaired person" (2000, p. xiv).
