Imagine a world where buildings and cities actively nurture our well-being, not just physically but spiritually. There is a growing awareness of the need for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to wellness strategies in everyday life. This book explores spiritual wellness as a foundational attribute of urban planning and design with the hope of influencing a more flourishing trajectory of development with the built environment. Chapters reflect the beginning of this evolving movement in home and community design that tackles our uniquely modern problems of sedentary lives, unhealthy diets, stress, social isolation, pollution, nature deprivation, and inaccessibility to spiritually nurturing places. The attributes of spiritual wellness are presented as defining characteristics informing design strategies. These specific planning and design strategies are presented through case studies from around the globe that highlight the importance of spiritual wellness considerations at all scales of the built environment, from rooms to cities. This book is essential to help architects, planners, designers, engineers, healthcare providers, project stakeholders, and graduate students embrace and implement a successful wellness design approach.

Phillip James Tabb is Emeritus Professor of Architecture at Texas A&M University and was the Liz and Nelson Mitchell Professor of Residential Design. Since 2001, Tabb has been the master plan architect for Serenbe Community - an award-winning sustainable, biophilic, and wellness community being realized near Atlanta, Georgia, and the architect of his solar residence in Serenbe. He has been a design educator for 20 years and a practicing urban designer and licensed architect for 30 years.