Does the man-made environment by which we surround ourselves with have an influence on humans’ behavior, cognition, emotion and well-being? And if so, how and to what extent does this environmental impact occur/happen? These are some of the questions that we will discuss in this real work. Since architects, planners and engineers, design and shape the spaces in which we live, their understanding on how the built environment can affect people’s health, cognition and behavior is paramount.

Since the 1980’s there has been a growing consensus that the mind is not entirely formed by an interplay between brain and body alone, but rather as a result of an interaction of brain-body-environment. This recognition comes from cognitive science, neuroscience as well as phenomenological and pragmatist philosophy. In this triade, the relationship between the brain and the body has been the focus of research for various disciplines for more than a century. However, the influence of the environment in the form of the built environment is just beginning to be understood and necessarily involves insights from cross-disciplinary fields. The course links research contributions from several approaches/areas: architecture, engineering, philosophy and cognitive neuroscience and highlights the recent progresses made in this field.