ABSTRACT
Williams defines the therapeutic landscape as the "changing places, settings, situations, locales and milieus that encompass the physical, psychological and social environments associated with treatment or healing." The notion of environments as 'therapeutic' signals a discursive shift from a purely medical approach toward a more holistic ecological model which emphasises the individual, lived experience of health. Therapeutic landscapes are often physically or spatially located in some way, with the physical environment simultaneously influencing, regulating and providing a setting for interaction and behaviour in older age. Whether they are physically located, spatially situated or imagined, the therapeutic nature of certain spaces for older adults generally reflects their ability to improve or foster physical, mental or spiritual well-being. There is considerable scope for a more critical exploration of how particular spaces hold different therapeutic potentials for diverse older adults and how these therapeutic spaces are contested and renegotiated over time.
