Can architecture prompt healthy actions? Is promoting health and wellness through design important to you?
The built environment influences our experience and how we choose to act, and our actions influence our health and well-being.
I’m Avani Parikh, an architect with more than 30 years of experience working on healthcare and city planning projects in the U.S. and abroad. Ten years ago, I became interested in behavioral economics -- the study of the effects of psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural and social factors on the economic decisions of individuals and institutions.
That's when I came up with the idea of using a behavioral economics framework for preventative interventions and as a new way to think of the connection between human behavior, architectural design, and wellness. I was taken by the notion that assuming we are always choosing in an optimal way with regards to our own health might not be true. And, since we can be limited and unaware of how our actions shape our lives, we are likely to benefit from design that corrects any failures.
I co-authored an award-winning book about it that included both rational and behavioral choice and began speaking at conferences and lecturing at universities. And I started a consulting practice using the ideas in Choice Theory to approach design in a broad way in any places that human beings are engaged in making healthy decisions.
Sound interesting?
If you’d like to learn more about Choice Theory or find out what I can bring to your project team, send me an email or give me a call. I’d be happy to share my ideas with you.
Buy my book
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In order to influence healthy actions, we need to understand what is producing them.
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