The theme of Nurturing Architecture explores the discipline as both processes and constructions with an ethos of care, of providing nourishment and of supporting growth and development. Inherent in the multiple interpretations of nurturing, is the notion of wellbeing, and the ways in which architects and educators consider the wellbeing of future and current generations of users and other stakeholders, including our communities of architects and students.
Importantly, wellbeing is a broad and diffuse concept; wellbeing is a positive aspiration, a means to living well: an everyday resource that enables people to lead individually, socially and economically productive lives. Wellbeing is often associated with nurturing the prospect of flourishing: ‘the experience of life going well… feeling good and functioning effectively’. It is also analogous to aspects of social sustainability and is embedded in innovative and interdisciplinary design approaches. The design of the built environment can contribute towards many positive aspects of mental health including self-actualisation, the will to meaning, individuation or happiness. The theme interweaves across disciplines and boundaries, particularly: digital wellbeing; collective wellbeing; commodification of mental health; identity, individuation and isolation; the circular economy and the humanities. We welcome contributions that consider any of the following approaches:
Architecture that nurtures
