Compassionate Places: Developing and Implementing a Method for Interdisciplinary, Humanistic Spatial Design and Place Quality Standards.

Abstract: The design of the built environment has profound impacts on human health and social well-being. However, the significant opportunity for architecture, urban design, and spatial planning to intentionally enhance human life and address societal challenges is currently overlooked. The Compassionate Places Method, introduced in this paper, proposes a humanistic, interdisciplinary approach for spatial design that considers multifaceted factors related to human needs, human nature, and human experience. In contrast to business-as-usual practices which focus on physical “bricks-and-mortar” factors, the Compassionate Places Method situates spatial design as a vital component for actively enhancing people’s well-being and quality of life. This novel design approach incorporates insights from disciplines that consider the effect of places on people but are not typically included as part of design processes, such as public health, environmental psychology, social sciences, neuroscience, and the arts. This paper explains the development of the Compassionate Places Method through long-term, practice-based research, and built design projects. The approach was implemented into a London local authority’s spatial planning processes in 2023 as design standards for “Place Quality”. This aims to embed health, social well-being, and inclusivity into the practices of design and planning through new guidance and requirements in the planning permission system. Implications: This research sets the platform for an approach that can help designers and planners systematically consider the human factors and impacts of built environment design in an intentional and structured manner. It aims to contribute to a paradigm shift that situates human health and social well-being at the center of everyday design and planning processes to maximize the potential for the built environment to support human flourishing. Keywords: Architecture; Urban design; Planning; Well-being; Health; Mental health; Neuroarchitecture; Interdisciplinary; Quality of life; Social Well-being.