Sohyun Park

Design and Research for Healthy Communities and Healthcare Facilities

UCHI proud to co-sponsor a virtual conference, co-organized by Françoise Dussart (Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut) and Sohyun Park (Department of Plant Science & Landscape Architecture, University of Connecticut)

Design and Research for Healthy Communities and Healthcare Facilities

May 17, 2021, 9:00 AM-4:15 PM EDT
Registration is required.

While shifts in attitudes towards the design of community environments and healthcare facilities have been increasingly important in the last decades especially in Europe, the USA, Australia, and Canada, the new pandemic era reignites some perennial issues as well as demands for new solutions. Neighborhood environments, parks, children’s hospitals, birthing centers, aging care facilities as well as local clinics and hospitals have influenced health and behavior outcome, especially among the disadvantaged populations such as children and older adults. More than ever as Covid-19 disrupts our engagement with one another and the world at large forcing us to reflect and rethink the intersections of urban planning, architectural and landscape designs, and public health.

This Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference draws attention to the historical and contemporary contexts within which healthy communities and healthcare facilities-related projects get realized as well as how their performances and outcomes are measured. In a pandemic era, conference presenters explore how issues of class, gender, ethnicity, and age contribute intellectually and literally shaping designs and their execution. Drawing on theoretical frameworks and empirical observations, presenters explore insights and questions which arise through cross-disciplinary dialogues, and examine how social and identity politics shape the architecture of care and are working to build better healing spaces.

The day is organized around the following themes with invited keynote speakers and presenters for each session:

  • Architecture for Healthcare
  • Architecture of care during Pandemics
  • Landscapes for Health
  • Environmental Health and Human Health

This conference is supported by the Humanities Institute; the Office of the Vice President for Research; College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; College of Agriculture; Health and Natural Resources Department of Anthropology; Department of Plant Science & Landscape Architecture; and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

See the conference website for more details.

Please register by May 16.