Architects, urban design, health, and the built environment

The role of the architect is changing.A variety of recent research from diverse disciplines is illustrating the positive and negative effects of the built environment on individual and public health.By becoming knowledgeable about the growing body of research on health and the built environment, architects can be a positive force in the development of healthy urban centers.The roles of the architect, described here as the fashionista, the life improver, and the object-service packager, are evolving.We acknowledge that the data for this argument are largely anecdotal, yet we contend that knowledge systematically produced to improve the built environment's service to human needs is expanding rapidly.