An Ecological Perspective on Housing, Health and Well-being

Abstract

Human ecology is a term that has been used frequently since the beginning of this century to examine some of the relationships between people and their surroundings. This article presents a different interpretation to that commonly used by academics and professionals in the medical and social sciences. The ecological perspective developed and illustrated here stems from an appraisal of many contemporary contributions, and an examination of Hippocrates's treatise "On Airs, Waters, And Places". The perspective presented herein accounts for the impacts of human products and processes on the biotic and abiotic constituents of the environment, as well as the human organism. Feedback from the state of the environment on human activities, and on the health and well-being of the human organism, is explicitly accounted for. It is suggested and shown how this ecological perspective is appropriate for studies of the interrelations between housing conditions, and human health and wellbeing.