Environmental Design for Health: A Framework and Visual Guide

This book provides a user-friendly guide to the impact of environmental design on individual and population health, as well as the relevant roles of social and behavioral factors. It explores how architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and urban planning can contribute to a healthier, more equitable, and more resilient society. Employing an evidence-based and solution-oriented approach, it provides a much-needed textbook for environmental designers and public health professionals.

Written by a team of established experts, this book includes:

• An introduction to the concept of environmental design for health and the relevant roles of social and behavioral factors.
• An overview of important theories about human-environment relationships; environmental assessment, perception, and cognition; and health behavior.
• Discussions of how to design for physical, mental, and social health, covering various design disciplines and environmental scales.
• Overviews of more specialized topics, such as design for healing, design for active living, design for environmental justice, and design across the lifespan.
• Case studies involving a range of physical environments, including interiors and buildings, parks, urban spaces, and residential communities.
• A timely focus on emerging technology that affects design for health.
• An overview of integrating design and research for a healthier future.

It is essential reading for all environmental designers and public health professionals.

Xuemei Zhu is a Professor of Architecture and the holder of the Ronald L. Skaggs, FAIA, & Joseph Sprague, FAIA, Chair in Health Facilities Design at Texas A&M University. She is also a Fellow of the Center for Health Systems & Design and a Presidential Impact Fellow. Her scholarship investigates the impacts of the built environment on public health, with a specific focus on active living research and evidence-based design for health promotion.

Mardelle McCuskey Shepley, BA, MArch, MA, DArch, is an Architect and Emerita Professor at Cornell University. FAIA and FACHA (emerita), WELL, LEED, and EDAC certified, she has authored seven books. Mardelle received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Healthcare Architects and the Changemaker Award from the Center for Health Design.

Zhipeng Lu is an Assistant Professor and the Julie & Craig Beale Professor in Health Facilities Design in the Department of Architecture and the Associate Director of the Center for Health Systems & Design at Texas A&M University. He coordinates the Secretariat of the International Union of Architects–Public Health Group. He received the 2023 HCD10 Educator Award from the Healthcare Design Magazine.