Introduction

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in this book. The book explains that the development and accessibility of environmental aesthetics as a discipline can thus play a major role. The discipline in its systematic form started to develop in the West relatively recently, but it has nonetheless rapidly gained increasing attention. Environmental aesthetics is a theoretical tool that addresses concrete problems and can answer the call of the time. Ideas developed in Chinese Environmental Aesthetics are inspired from ancient Chinese 'aesthetic consciousness'. It suggests a more systematic approach with which to address contemporary problems, both globally and locally, both universally and within the context of the People's Republic of China. Today's environment is both the result of natural changes and human-driven developments, with the latter becoming increasingly determinant as the history of humankind unfolds. An environmental education that teaches both science and aesthetics, function and beauty is therefore of the essence.