Built environment

The term built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter and buildings to neighborhoods and cites that can often include their supporting infrastructure, such as water supply or energy networks.
In practice, the term is typically used to describe the interdisciplinary field which addresses the design, construction, management and use of these man-made surroundings as an interrelated whole as well as their relationship to human activities over time (rather than a particular element in isolation or at a single moment in time). The field is generally not regarded as a traditional profession or academic discipline in its own right, instead drawing upon areas such as economics, law, public policy, management, design, technology, and environmental sustainability.

Architecture & Environmental Psychology

In architecture and environmental psychology, the phrase is a useful acknowledgment that the majority of urban environments already exist, that a small fraction of buildings constructed annually, even in the industrialized world, are designed by architects, and that users of the built environment encounter issues that cross the traditional professional boundaries between urban planners, traffic engineers, zoning authorities, architects, interior designers, industrial designers, etc.

Landscape Architecture

In landscape architecture, the built environment is identified as man-made landscapes as opposed to the natural environment. For example, Central Park in New York City may have the look, feel and quality of natural surroundings, but is completely man-made and 'built'.

Urban Planning

In urban planning, the phrase connotes the idea that a large percentage of the human environment is man-made, and these artificial surroundings are so extensive and cohesive that they function as organisms in the consumption of resources, disposal of wastes, and facilitation of productive enterprise within its bounds. Recently there has also been considerable dialogue and research into the built environment's impact on population health (see www.activelivingbydesign.org).

Further reading

• Jeb Brugmann, Welcome to the urban revolution: how cities are changing the world, Bloomsbury Press, 2009
• Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Random House, New York, 1961
• Andrew Knight & Les Ruddock, Advanced Research Methods in the Built Environment, Wiley-Blackwell 2008
• Paul Chynoweth, The Built Environment Interdiscipline: A Theoretical Model for Decision Makers in Research and Teaching, Proceedings of the CIB Working Commission (W089) Building Education and Research Conference, Kowloon Sangri-La Hotel, Hong Kong, 10 - 13 April 2006.