The therapeutic landscape concept, first introduced early in the 1990s, has been widely employed in health/medical geography and gaining momentum in various health-related disciplines. This is the first book published in several years, and provides an introduction to the concept and its applications.

Written by health/medical geographers and anthropologists, it addresses contemporary applications in the natural and built environments; for special populations, such as substance abusers; and in health care sites, a new and evolving area - and provides an array of critiques or contestations of the concept and its various applications. The conclusion of the work provides a critical evaluation of the development and progress of the concept to date, signposting the likely avenues for future investigation.

Contents: Preface; Introduction: the continuing maturation of the therapeutic landscape concept, Allison M. Williams; Part 1 Traditional Therapeutic Landscapes: Natural and Built Environments: Ambiguous landscapes: sun, risk and recreation on New Zealand beaches, Damian Collins and Robin Kearns; The experimental economy of stillness: places of retreat in contemporary Britain, David Conradson; From Rishikesh to Yogaville: the globalization of therapeutic landscapes, Anne-Cécile Hoyez; Healing landscapes in the Alps: Heidi by Johanna Spyri, Allison M. Williams. Part 2 Therapeutic Geographies for Special Populations: Making clean and sober places: the intersections of therapeutic landscapes and substance abuse treatment, Geoffrey DeVeteuil, Robert D. Wilton and Shaun Klassen; Anxious subjectivities and spaces of care: therapeutic geographies of the UK National Phobics Society, Joyce Davidson and Hester Parr; Preventative applications of the therapeutic landscapes concept in urban residential settings: a quantitative application, Matthias Braubach; A 'family friendly' place: family leisure, identity and wellbeing – the zoo as therapeutic landscape, Bonnie Hallman. Part 3 Applications in Health Care Sites: Applications of concepts of therapeutic landscapes to the design of hospitals in the UK: the example of a mental health facility in London, Wil Gesler and Sarah Curtis; The writing's on the wall: decoding the interior spaces of the hospital waiting room, Valorie A. Crookes and Joshua Evans; Therapeutic landscapes for older people: care with commodification, liminality, and ambiguity, Malcolm P. Cutchin; Home as therapeutic landscape: family caregivers providing palliative care at home, Rhonda Donovan and Allison Williams. Part 4 Contesting Landscapes as Therapeutic: Contemporary Advances: Gay bathhouses: the transgression of health in therapeutic places, Gavin J. Andrews and Dave Holmes; The therapeutic landscapes of the Kaqchikel of San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala, Julie M.Sperling and Jody F. Decker; Restoration or risk? Exploring the place of the common place, Christine Milligan; Surviving profoundly unhealthy places: the ambivalent, fragile and absent therapeutic landscapes of the Soviet gulag, Geoffrey DeVerteuil and Gavin J. Andrews. Part 5 Transcending Geography: Applications in the Anthropology of Health: Introduction: understanding therapeutic landscapes from the perspectives of medical anthropology and environmental psychology, Julie Pranikoff and Setha Low; Therapeutic uses of place in the intentional space of purposive community, Brian A. Hoey; The therapeutic landscape of dementia care: contours of intersubjective spaces for sustaining the person, Athena McLean; Reclaiming the therapeutic value of public space through roadside art and memorials in rural Nevada, Dawn Einwalter; The construction of place as aesthetic-therapeutic, Peter Collins; Index.

About the Editor: Allison Williams is Associate Professor at the School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Canada.

Reviews: ‘The concept of therapeutic landscapes has emerged in the last 15 years as a significant leitmotif in the study of health and place. In this substantial set of essays, Allison Williams has assembled an impressive array of scholars who interrogate therapeutic landscapes in a series of imaginative and constructively critical engagements. This is a landmark edited collection.’
Tony Gatrell, Lancaster University, UK

‘Allison Williams has played a pivotal role in developing the concept of therapeutic landscapes. It is not surprising therefore that this edited collection makes such an important contribution to the existing literature. The diversity of authors and novel ideas incorporated into this book enriches the field of study and sheds new light on the role of place in shaping healing.’
Kathi Wilson, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada

'The book will appeal to a range of readers. Specialists in the subject will delight in the collection of seminal essays by leading scholars. Health professionals who both work within and with these kinds of environments will much to enjoy and much to think about…It seems certain that the book will become a standard on students' reading lists for some time to come.'
Metapsychology online reviews

'This excellent and useful collection is a must read for all who are interested in the study of healing, in general and specifically health and illness relationships in place, space and experience.'
Health Sociology Review

'This volume recognizes the continued maturation of the therapeutic landscape concept both within and outside the discipline of health geography. Williams does well to summarize possible directions for future research. Scholars and students across a range of social science disciplines could benefit from reading this collection as it successfully brings together established authors and their interests in the recursive links between place(s) and wellbeing.'
New Zealand Geographer

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Full contents list

Introduction

Index