Hospitals & Sustainability

Abstract

Hospitals may be thought of as an icon for pain, sickness and distress, but they are also icons of healing, life, family and hope. They are important buildings for any community and “the way we design, construct and operate these buildings has a profound impact on our health and the health of the environment.” (Guenther and Vittori, 2008) It would therefore seem logical that our healthcare systems and even the buildings where we humans seek healing are built and operated with our environmental health and our future generations in mind. Sadly however, this is rarely the case, and even today in the beginning of the twenty-first century we still live, work and even attempt to heal ourselves in buildings that use vast amounts of our dwindling resources and even impact negatively on our environmental health. This scoping study is aimed at highlighting the possibilities for a sustainability focused hospital. For any newly constructed hospital should be a hospital of the 21st century and utilize our innovations, technologies and increased understandings of community and healthier environments.