Therapeutic Landscapes

This comprehensive and authoritative guide offers an evidence-based overview of healing gardens and therapeutic landscapes from planning to post-occupancy evaluation. It provides general guidelines for designers and other stakeholders in a variety of projects, as well as patient-specific guidelines covering twelve categories ranging from burn patients, psychiatric patients, to hospice and Alzheimer's patients, among others. Sections on participatory design and funding offer valuable guidance to the entire team, not just designers, while a planting and maintenance chapter gives critical information to ensure that safety, longevity, and budgetary concerns are addressed.

Foreword vii

Acknowledgments ix

One Introduction 1

Two History of Hospital Outdoor Space 6

Three Theory, Research, and Design Implications 14

Four Types and Locations of Therapeutic Landscapes in Healthcare 36

Five The Participatory Design Process 47
Teresia Hazen

Six General Design Guidelines for Healthcare Facilities 56

Seven Children’s Hospital Gardens 91

Eight Gardens for Cancer Patients 115

Nine Gardens for the Frail Elderly 129

Ten Gardens for People with Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias 148

Eleven Hospice Gardens 165

Twelve Gardens for Mental and Behavioral Health Facilities 179

Thirteen Gardens for Veterans and Active Service Personnel 206

Fourteen Rehabilitation Gardens 222

Fifteen Restorative Gardens in Public Spaces 235

Sixteen Horticultural Therapy and Healthcare Garden Design 250
Teresia Hazen

Seventeen Planting and Maintaining Therapeutic Gardens 261
Marni Barnes

Eighteen Therapeutic Landscapes and Sustainability 288

Nineteen The Business Case and Funding for Therapeutic Gardens 298

Twenty Evaluation of Therapeutic Gardens 308

Index 317

"This is an exceptionally well-written, well-researched and well-illustrated book on designing and creating therapeutic landscapes. Rarely before has this topic been so thoroughly documented in one easy-to-read book that provides essential information to landscape architects, garden designers, healthcare workers, therapists and patients." (Linda A. Irvine, Landscapes/Paysages Magazine, OALA, FCSLA, ASLA; Manager, Parks and Open Space Development, City of Markham, Ontario, Canada)

"Taking time to get in tune with your surroundings and learn to love nature has proven a therapeutic process for many, including Naomi Sachs. Sachs is Founding Director of the Therapeutic Landscapes Network, and has been able to translate a personal passion for nature into a new book, co-written by Clare Cooper Marcus, which just came out this week called Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces. The new publication has been long-anticipated and referenced as the "single most comprehensive and authoritative guide to designing healing gardens and restorative outdoor spaces." (naturesacred.org, October 2013)

Clare Cooper Marcus is Professor Emerita in the Departments of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. She is recognized internationally for her pioneering research on the psychological and sociological implications of the design of housing, public open space, and restorative landscapes.

Naomi A. Sachs is founder and Director of the Therapeutic Landscapes Network. She is currently pursuing a PhD in architecture at Texas A&M University. Naomi writes and lectures frequently about the restorative benefits of nature.

The single most comprehensive and authoritative guide to designing healing gardens and restorative outdoor spaces

Therapeutic Landscapes focuses critical attention on the design and creation of landscapes that promote health and well-being, emphasizing the importance of evidence-based design to meet the needs of specific patient populations, as well as those of visitors and staff. It presents an overview of healing gardens and therapeutic landscapes from planning to post-occupancy evaluation and offers guidelines on which landscape architects, healthcare administrators, and funders to base their decisions.

Whether the outdoor space is a courtyard, a campus, or a roof garden; whether it is part of an acute care or a residential facility; or whether it serves children, cancer patients, veterans, or the elderly, this comprehensive guide delivers proven approaches to the design of beautiful spaces that reduce stress, encourage emotional equilibrium, support recovery from illness or injury, and help patients regain lost or impaired abilities.

Important features of this wide-ranging and closely detailed resource, include:

• Evidence-based guidelines for designers and other stakeholders in a variety of projects
• Patient-specific strategies covering twelve categories ranging from burn patients and psychiatric patients to hospice and Alzheimer's patients
• Case studies of exemplary gardens that demonstrate best practices and provide inspiration
• Information on participatory design and funding strategies
• Chapters on research, planting and maintenance, horticultural therapy, and sustainability

Therapeutic Landscapes is an indispensable resource for landscape architects, other designers, students taking related courses, and healthcare administrators.