Outdoor Environments For People

Outdoor Environments for People addresses the everyday human behavior in outdoor built environments and explains how designers can learn about and incorporate their knowledge into places they help to create. Bridging research and practice, and drawing from disciplines such as environmental psychology, cultural geography, and sociology, the book provides an overview of theories, such as personal space, territoriality, privacy, and place attachment, that are explored in the context of outdoor environments and, in particular, the landscape architecture profession. Authors share the impact that place design can have on individuals and communities with regard to health, safety, and belonging. Beautifully designed and highly illustrated in full color, this book presents analysis, community engagement, and design processes for understanding and incorporating the social and psychological influences of an environment and discusses examples of outdoor place design that skillfully respond to human factors. As a textbook for landscape architecture students and a reference for practitioners, it includes chapters addressing different realms of people–place relationships, examples of theoretical applications, case studies, and exercises that can be incorporated into any number of design courses. Contemporary design examples, organized by place type and illustrating key human factor principles, provide valuable guidance and suggestions. Outdoor Environments for People is a must-have resource for students, instructors, and professionals within landscape architecture and the surrounding disciplines.

Learn how gardens and parks can be beneficial to residents Mounting evidence reveals that nature and outdoor environments provide individuals with dementia greater enjoyment in life, lower stress levels, and positive changes to physical well-being. Outdoor Environments for People with Dementia explores how fulfilling the fundamental genetically based need of human relationships with nature can improve the health and well-being of people with dementia. Top experts analyze current research and comprehensively examine how the design processes of gardens and parks can be closely connected to effective interventions. Evaluation tools for those with dementia are discussed, including studies of the impact of plants and outdoor activities on this population. Outdoor Environments for People with Dementia discusses in detail practical approaches that can significantly improve the quality of life for dementia victims. Research is discussed revealing important aspects and issues needing to be addressed when creating better outdoor environments that are effective in helping residents of long term care facilities and residential care homes. The text is extensively referenced and provides several tables, figures, and photographs to clearly illustrate concepts. Topics discussed in Outdoor Environments for People with Dementia include: the impact of outdoor wandering parks and therapeutic gardens on people with dementia empirical studies on how access to and participation in nature-related activities can benefit people with dementia interventions to restore people with dementia having directed-attention fatigue evaluation tools for gardens for people with dementia research-based design recommendations for future gardens theories and empirical studies about healing gardens training staff to increase their knowledge about horticulture and encouraging them to involve residents in outdoor activities general guidelines for developing an outdoor space examination of the attributes for the superior outdoor space found in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with design recommendations for the future Outdoor Environments for People with Dementia is a valuable resource for scholars, policymakers, legislators, architects and urban planners, lending institutions, developers, landscape architects, and the lay public in general who have an interest in the subject—personal, professional, or civic.

Highly visual and containing contributions from leading names in landscape, architecture and design, this volume provides a rare insight into people’s engagement with the outdoor environment; looking at the ways in which the design of spaces and places meets people’s needs and desires in the twenty-first century. Embracing issues of social inclusion, recreation, and environmental quality, the editors explore innovative ways to develop an understanding of how the landscape, urban or rural, can contribute to health and quality of life. Open Space: People Space examines the nature and value of people’s access to outdoor environments. Led by Edinburgh’s OPENspace research centre, the debate focuses on current research to support good design for open space and brings expertise from a range of disciplines to look at: an analysis of policy and planning issues and challenges understanding the nature and experience of exclusion the development of evidence-based inclusive design innovative research approaches which focus on people’s access to open space and the implications of that experience. Invaluable to policy makers, researchers, urban designers, landscape architects, planners, managers and students, it is also essential reading for those working in child development, health care and community development.

Ask people what they remember most about the physical surroundingsof their childhood and they're likely to describe a special placeout of doors--a school yard, a patch of woods, a community garden.For it is outside space that is most conducive to the ebb and flowof spontaneous activities, offers rich and often surprising sensoryinput, and provides endless possibilities for exploration. If theclassroom is the place where children are taught, the outdoors iswhere they learn on their own. A growing legion of landscape architects is exploring andexploiting the ability to create outdoor environments that optimizethe learning experience and mirror the ideas, values, attitudes,and cultures of those who inhabit them. In Landscapes for Learning,Dr. Sharon Stine presents 11 case studies of the very best of thesedesign projects from around the world. Her findings describe notonly design concepts and end results--rich outdoor learningenvironments--but, more importantly, the processes that led to thecreation of these environments. She examines the roles ofdesigners, teachers, and the children themselves, and how theirinteraction affects the planning, building, and use of thespace. Dr. Stine shows how the most successful designs address the needsof both the children whose job it is to "mess up" the space and theadults who supervise them. She defines nine pairs of contrastingelements that are essential to any play environment and uses theseboth as the basis for her analyses of particular environments andas the foundation of a common language that designers and educatorscan use when developing a new design. She also addresses the issuesof safety and security and demonstrates that learning environmentscan be stimulating, interesting links with the natural world andsafe places for children to run free. Landscapes for Learning is the ideal source for landscapearchitects, architects, planners, school administrators, andteachers who want to collaborate in the development of useful,intriguing outdoor environments for students in day care,preschool, elementary school, junior high, and high school. Discover the keys to creating delightful, stimulating, challenging,and educational outdoor environments for children and youth This unique volume explores the vital and growing movement that istransforming school yards, day-care facilities, and museum groundsaround the world. Dr. Sharon Stine presents detailed analyses of awide variety of outdoor environments for children and theprinciples and processes that enabled their design, creation, andongoing operation. Special features of this book include: * Eleven case studies of outstanding outdoor environments forchildren and youth--both contemporary and historical * More than 140 photos and line drawings that illustrate theapplication of specific design principles * Nine pairs of contrasting elements essential in any playenvironment that form the basis of a shared language for the designand analysis of outdoor learning environments * In-depth analyses of the development and evolution of outsidespace in two schools over a period of 80 years * And much more

This unique resource expertly details the design, installation, and maintenance of sustainable children's landscapes and play yards. Numerous case studies cover projects including storybook courtyards, music and barnyard gardens, nature trails, wildlife habitats, memorial, and edible gardens.

Presents new insights on the positive role nature and the outdoors can play in the lives of older adults, whether they live in the community, in an assisted-living environment, or in a skilled nursing facility. Current research suggests that increased contact and activity levels with the outdoors can be an important therapeutic resource for the elderly, with significant mental and physical health benefits. This unique book examines how to make the most of outdoor spaces in residential setting, exploring attitudes and patterns of use, the effect of plants, the physical environment, and health-related outcomes from contact with nature and enhanced physical activity.

In the acclaimed Holding On to Home, Uriel Cohen and Gerald Weisman explored the relationship between the physical environment and people with dementia, setting forth a program of practical design principles linked to specific therapeutic goals. Now, in Contemporary Environments for People with Dementia, Uriel Cohen and Kristen Day extend that design guidance and offer information on currently existing facilities to illustrate the application of those principles.