HEALING LANDSCAPES

GRADUATE THESIS

Kathryn Foley, Primary Thesis Advisor; Nicola DePace, Secondary Thesis Advisor

“People are disturbed not by a thing, but by their perception of a thing.” — Epictetus

The Financial District in Manhattan is rapidly urbanizing; it has high-density buildings and population. Most of the high buildings in Manhattan are located here. This urban environment raises a lot of mental health issues. People who work and live here demand healing spaces to be relieved from the urban environment. This thesis mainly investigates the healing practices of walking on the street and experiencing the art pieces of healing installations to deeply heal and refresh people physically, mentally and spiritually.

This thesis divided to three parts; it mainly looks at the scenario of healing landscapes in the Financial District. Phase one focused on the overall history and site condition of the Financial District, and tried to combine it with the typology of a traditional healing landscape. New typologies of healing landscape for high density and unhealthy urban areas were explored. Phase two evaluated various site conditions and documented the flow of people in the Financial District. The typology of healing practice forms was developed. Phase three tried to locate the specific location of healing practice paths and the area of the healing network in order to heal people by walking through these paths and experiencing the art pieces on these paths.