Architecture as a component of Well-Being

Abstract

Studies of well-being have developed into a fully legitimate and independent research area where several academic disciplines meet. more recently, numerous researchers go as far as to name these studies, „well-being science“Being studies are somewhat different from other disciplines in the current geography of social sciences because they are more value-ladden and linked to subjectivity. Nevertheless they are no less reliable that those social sciences that insist on their'objectivity' as Being studies have developed their analytical strategies and methods of inquiry. This particular article is focused on the relations between architecture and the built environment with human well-being. Emphasizing that architectural research and studies of well-being recently started to share a common concern, the author discusses how architecture and urbanism can and should further embrace well-being and which trends in architectural and urban research can be considered as the most adequate for dealing with interdisciplinary problems of well-being. It is argued that the interest in well-being is related not only to the issues of mental health, but also to a larger complex of isssues. Its further elaboration can help to renew both contemporary architecture and city-making.