ABSTRACT
The relationship between the environment and human well-being is at the centre of human existence and experience. It is an infinitely complex relationship, about which we have an equally infinite range of personal and collective social intuitions, but at the same time, and perhaps rather surprisingly, it is one about which relatively little is known in any systematic or empirical sense. There is an enduring recognition and understanding of the impacts of various environmental parameters such as clean air and water, nutritious food, appropriate shelter and the like, on physical health and well-being. Likewise, the organised endeavours of human cultures throughout history to design living environments based on this understanding is well established as one of the most fundamental of human preoccupations. Even the earliest designed landscapes reflect a sophisticated sensitivity to the healthful, restorative and spiritually nourishing aspects of gardens and human-scale landscape spaces. What is less well understood, however, are the myriad operative and causal factors which delineate these impacts and explain the complex relationships between them. The fundamental question, succinctly put by Stephen Kellert, is this: ‘What do we know about the relationship between natural systems and human physical and mental wellbeing? The truth is, not much’ (Kellert, 2005).
