The Vital Role of Humanities, Arts and Design on Well-being

The Vital Role of Humanities, Arts and
Design of Built Environments on
Human Well-being and Health
Negin Minaei 1, Adel Sattaripour2
1. Post-doctoral and Research-Associate at the School of Real Estate and
Land Management, Royal Agricultural University, UK, Negin.minaei@rau.ac.uk
2. PhD Student at the IGS heritage Studies, Brandenburg University of
Technology, Germany, adel.sattaripour@b-tu.de
International Conference of The Role of Humanities, Arts and Transdisciplinary
Practice in Higher Education, Germany, May 2015

School of Real Estate and Land Management
Example 1:
• Launched by: Johns Hopkins University's Krieger School of Arts and
Sciences
• Course: medicine, science, and humanities
Aims:
• to examine medical and scientific issues through the lens of
humanities studies
• to close the polarizing gap between the sciences and the
humanities
• To fulfill the needs to promote intellectual innovations by
interdisciplinary approaches
• to promote productive connections between scientific and
humanistic cultures.
Ref: http://hub.jhu.edu/2015/01/22/major-medicine-science-humanities
The Vital Role of Humanities, Arts and Design of Built
Environments on Human Well-being and Health
NeginMinaei1,AdelSattaripour2

Example 2:
• Launched by: New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and
Sciences at the Arizona State University
• Course: The MA degree in interdisciplinary studies
Aims:
• to allow students to combine the study of two or more
disciplines.
• to solve problems that requires an interdisciplinary approach
• to provide exposure to a variety of research methods,
historical perspectives and modes of inquiry.
• To work with the faculty, students may define their own area
of emphasis or adopt an existing area
Ref: https://newcollege.asu.edu/interdisciplinary-studies-ma

Example 3:
Launched by :The School of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies at
the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the
Arizona State University
Course: BA degree in interdisciplinary arts and performance
Aims:
• A collaborative approach to the arts, technology & performance
• to allow students to effectively study, create and prepare for a
complex and changing world through current approaches to the
arts and aesthetic research.
• to become versatile artists prepared for professional and
entrepreneurial opportunities in rapidly evolving marketplaces
Ref: https://newcollege.asu.edu/graduate-studies

Examples of new interdisciplinary courses and practices
in our field are :
• Sustainable approaches
• Community planning
• Public participatory planning
• Evidence based design
• Human based design
• Ergonomics
• Environmental Psychology
• Evidence based therapies
• Art Therapies

The Aim of this presentation is:
To explain two essential interdisciplinary courses in
humanities and arts which directly affect peoples’ health
and well-being.
Our two case studies:
1- Environmental Psychology
2- Art Therapies

Environmental Psychology
• Our interaction with our environment
• How the environment affect us
• Characteristics of a good environment
Rational:
• to solve real world problems
• To employ evidence based design.
• To have feedbacks of users
• To find the answers to emerging problems

Overcrowded environments can make us
feel stressed, frustrated, less patient, less
helpful to others and in the long term
cause physical symptoms such as
headaches (Gifford,2002)
Gifford. R.(2002). Environmental Psychology, Principles and Practice (3rd). Optimal Books, Canada

How does an environment affect us?
Restoration Stress
It depends on us (prior mood, cognitive depletion, familiarity,
personality) and the environment (e.g., complexity, noise,
colour, density)
Gatersleben, B. (2011). Key Questions in Environmental Psychology, Handouts
.

Environmental Psychology
• privacy and personal space
• crowding and territoriality
• favourite places, place attachment and identity
• environmental stress and restoration
• Cognitive maps and way finding
• Aesthetics and appraisals
• Studying environments such as residential spaces,
work spaces, hospitals, school, public spaces, libraries,
sports centre

• Our body as a biological
system has five senses (sight,
taste, touch, smell, hearing)
as primary sources of data
collection.
• These data are sent to the
brain to be processed and
interpreted. But the process
is not merely physical, it goes
through different filters.

These filters are our
beliefs, emotions
and our memories
of our experiences.
Together, they affect
the way we think,
feel and ultimately
the way we behave.
Ref: https://growwiseyoga.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/cbt-cycle.jpg

CBT Model:
CBT or Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy is a type of
psychotherapy which is evidence
based and has been proven to be
very beneficial in helping people
work through a wide range of
mental health issues.
Ref: http://www.mindfultherapiesni.com/What-is-CBT-.html

Our habitats send us environmental
signals such as visual images, noises,
and olfactory clues.
Visual clues:
• People’s presence and their activities
depending on the environment
• (differs in an Italian Plaza or China
town or Hyde Park London)
• Colors and decorations
• Textures and fabrics
Environmental Signals
Ref: Minaei, N. 2013,’Urban Design and Development’, teaching material published on the Gateway of
Royal Agricultural University, 2014/ / Photos: Google

• Sounds and noises
Transport noises, the hum of a city
Birds, an ice-cream man
• Smells: depending on the environment
“certain neurons in the olfactory cortex
serve as tuners and volume controls for
various neuronal inputs. The function
of these inhibitory neurons is
increasingly recognized as critical to the
sensory perceptions of sound and sight.”
Environmental Signals
Ref: Minaei, N. 2013,’Urban Design and Development’, teaching material published on the Gateway of
Royal Agricultural University, 2014 / Photos: Google

How do we experience a space?
The way we feel about a space is
the result of information
collected by our five senses,
processed in the conscious mind
and checked with our
experiences stored in our
unconscious mind in just 30
seconds! Based on this procedure
we have different feelings and
experiences when visiting
different environments.
Photos: Google

2- Art Therapy
Introducing creativity into health care :
• a new dimension in nursing
• shorten hospital stays
• Less need for pain medication
Therefore
• many major medical centers around the world have instituted
arts in health care programs (Lane, 2006).
Art Council Organization in UK
Lane, M. R. (2006). Arts in health care a new paradigm for holistic nursing practice. Journal of
Holistic Nursing, 24(1), 70-75.
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/Health_and_wellbeing_benefits_of_public_libra
ries_full_report.pdf
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/Cultural_activities_artforms_and_wellbeing.pdf

Dance/Movement Therapy
• Dance Movement Psychotherapy
(DMP)
• body movement as an
instrument of communication
and expression.
• client/s and therapists engage in
an empathic creative process
using body movement and
dance to assist integration of
emotional, cognitive, physical,
social and spiritual aspects of
self.
Ref: http://www.admt.org.uk/

Art Therapy: Painting
• proved helpful in depression
• Improving self esteem
• Kids with behaviour problems
• Revealing emotions that they are
not able to communicate
Ref: http://www.healthaim.com/art-therapy-a-new-help-for-kids-with-behavior-problems/10828

Art Therapy : Group Therapy
Creating together :
• the collective energy of groups
• sharing life's challenges of loss,
• disability, illness, or trauma through
creating art together within a community
• allows us to see more similarities than differences
• allows us to be witnessed and valued by others
• transcend ourselves by becoming part of a greater whole.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/arts-and-health/201003/cool-art-therapy-intervention-7-
creating-together
Source of photo:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/3a/4e/d8/3a4ed8bd8980c073173d91fdde76356e.jpg

Art Therapy: Colour Therapy or Chromo therapy
• Definition: A type of holistic
healing which uses the visible
spectrum of light and colour to
affect a person’s mood and
physical or mental health.
• Light enters through our eyes
and our skin and activates hormones causing
chemical reactions within the body and influences emotions and
enables the body to heal.
http://www.arttherapyblog.com/online/color-therapy-healing-an-introduction/#.VWG78E9VhBc

Art Therapy: Colour Therapy or Chromo therapy
• Many studies in environmental psychology and architecture
have researched the psychology of colours and their effects in
perceptions of spaces and interior design, in marketing and
advertising and even in learning and cognitive abilities.
• For example, effects of cool colours and warm colours or
best colours in restaurants to encourage appetite or giving the
feelings of flee for crowded spaces, make them seem bigger or
smaller. All are exercised by architecture students and interior
design students.
Ref: http://www.arttherapyblog.com/online/color-therapy-healing-an-introduction/#.VWG78E9VhBc

Art Therapy: Music Therapy
• Music therapy can help decreasing stress level, helps autism
and children with learning disabilities.
• “You’re seeing areas involved (in the brain) with movement,
memory, emotion, planning, taking action,” says Bob Miller, a
music therapist at Western Psychiatric Institute of UMPC
• Some studies claimed listening to music can help you perform
better!
Ref: http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2015/01/27/music-therapy-program-helping-to-improve-stress-
levels-in-adults-kids/

Art Therapy: Music Therapy
• PTSD(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
• Shock
• Stroke
• These cases can sing to communicate while they cannot talk It
• individual and social aspects of music therapy by Adel
Ref: http://www.kplctv.com/story/27977949/lake-charles-woman-learns-to-speak-through-music-
therapy-after-suffering-stroke

• Changing the notion of
space
• A space that is far from
social limitations
• Assisting audience to
release stress
photo source : © O-Hum Music Productions
Art Therapy: Indirect therapy by music
Iranian Underground Art Scene

Environments on HumanWell-being and Health
Iranian Underground Art Scene
• O-Hum Band
• Pioneers of
“Persian Rock”
• Using ancient
Persian poetry
photo source : © O-Hum Music Productions

Popular musicscapes and the urban environment
Duration: 2007-2010
Principal Investigator:
Dr Sara Cohen
Higher Education Institution:
Institute of Popular Music,
University of Liverpool
Project team member:
Dr Brett Lashua
photo source : © Sara Cohen

•Case study of Liverpool
• the influence of music-
making on the character of
the urban environment
• the influence of the urban
environment on music-
making

Environments on well-being and Health
Achievements:
• The everyday routes of
musicians were traced
along with real and
imagined sites connected
to their music-making
• reflection on the spatial
and geometric patterns

Conclusion
By bringing real world examples of social and
environmental issues and courses and
approaches as well as projects to study and
solve those issues, we hope we could open a
new discussion on the necessity of
interdisciplinary fields of studies in humanities
and arts.
Thank You

The Vital Role of Humanities, Arts and Design on Well-being

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