Second prize, abstract presentation at inVIVO: Humans and Nature - Reviving Asklepia in the 21st Century

"Taking the Greek premise of ‘Asklepia’ of city zones and towns, designed with the health and well-being of residents as primary concern” (Barton, 2015: 3) we examine how the concept of cities as health and salutogenia has become a lost phenomenon in mainstream 21st century planning but instead has emerged outside formalised structures of planning. We explore the conceptual and evolutional development of health and wellbeing in relation to the environment at three historical moments beginning with ancient Greeks through to industrial revolution and western infrastructural approaches, to current understandings of health and wellbeing in the urban realm. We highlight the transition of formality to 'informality' as a mode of shedding light into contemporary urban environments by observing new forms of occupation of spaces outside institutionalised conventions. We argue that informality embraces and activates physical, mental, and emotional bonds with the built environment and engages with expressions of freedom, reflecting a new imagination of holistic relationships to the environment but at the same time depicts attempts to return to elements that the ancient Greeks highlighted in Asklepia'.