Thwaites, K., Helleur, E. and Simkins, I.M. (2005) Restorative urban open space: Exploring the spatial configuration of human emotional fulfilment in urban open space. Landscape Research, 30 (4). pp. 525-547. ISSN 0142-6397
Abstract
The capacity of outdoor settings to benefit human well being is well established by research. Examples of restorative settings can be found throughout history and are still applied today in health-care facilities, as healing or restorative gardens for the sick, but their wider significance in the urban public realm remains insufficiently explored. A conceptual framework for restorative urban open space based on mosaics of linked and nested spaces woven into the urban fabric is presented. The concept synthesizes the theory of centres, pioneered in the 1970s and refined in recent work by architectural theorist Christopher Alexander, with material relating to social and ecological dimensions of outdoor spatial configuration. The concept argues for fundamental properties of order, as integrations of locational, directional and transitional spatial experience, which are present in the natural and cultural world and associated with human psychological benefit. This spatial arrangement may offer potential to resurrect people's connection with intuitively preferred forms and strengthen beneficial relations between human functioning and the spatial environment. © 2005 Landscape Research Group Ltd.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2005 Taylor and Francis. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Landscape Research. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy |
Keywords: | Restorative; urban open space; spatial experience |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Landscape Architecture (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 Feb 2016 11:40 |
Last Modified: | 06 Nov 2017 10:25 |
Published Version: | https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01426390500273346 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/01426390500273346 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:94857 |