Colorado-Real-Estate-Journal_388925

36 / BUILDING DIALOGUE / March 2024 ELEMENTS Healing Design TID: Buildings, Communities Can Promote Healing W e all experience trauma in our lives – the loss of a loved one, a car crash, unemployment, racial discrimination, military combat or natural disasters. However, some people experience significantly higher levels of adversity, and the response to trauma varies by the individual. One’s ability to cope with challenges is often determined by age, access to support and social net- works, resiliency, as well as severity, complexity and duration of the experience. Particularly in children, trauma can have lasting effects on a developing brain. Growing up in poverty, being neglected, or exposed to physical or sexual abuse can be detrimental. Individuals with a history of trauma may develop coping mechanisms such as withdrawal, substance abuse, and mental health or behavioral disorders. Understanding trauma is an integral element of trauma- informed care: no-judgment treatments that are created to address specific needs provide support and a nurturing envi- ronment in pursuit of positive coping responses. While this approach has been used by health practitioners for decades, it has just recently entered the conversations of design of the built environment. City planners and architects are beginning to appreciate the healing and/or harmful qualities that our public spaces, streets and buildings can have on mental health. In the field of trauma-informed planning, efforts are made to understand and address community trauma. Historically mar- ginalized neighborhoods have experienced underinvestment, systemic racism and exclusion. Redlining practices limited ac- cess to homeownership. Intentional placement of highways and busy arterials eroded the urban fabric of minority neigh- borhoods. Planning processes that disregarded community voice contributed to distrust and lack of empowerment. Ad- ditionally, natural disasters and extreme weather events can cause community trauma and reduced resiliency. Trauma-informed planning strategies can address the neg- ative legacy of racism and inequity and mitigate the negative effects of climate change. These strategies are based on values of safety and security, social networks of support, choice and civic pride, attention to cultural and social identities. Through active listening, planners and architects can embrace com- munity history and learn how to address trauma and mar- ginalization. Environmental triggers and trauma in the built environment may be linked to traffic speed and volume. Trau- ma-informed neighborhoods can create healing environments by providing safe streets, access to green space and human scale urban design. Creating streets where pedestrian safety and comfort is prioritized provides environments supporting mental and physical health. People experiencing homelessness often report significant trauma. That is why in architecture, the trauma-informed de- sign approach often refers to design of housing for individuals recovering from homelessness. However, the same principles are often employed in the design of schools or health care fa- cilities. While high-quality, vibrant environments have a posi- tive impact on all, it is the vulnerable populations that benefit most from designers’ attention to human experience. The foundation of TID is empathy and acknowledgement of human hardship. The objective is creating places that elim- Gosia Kung, AIA, LEED AP Design Director, KTGY 1139 Delaware is a permanent supportive and affordable housing community in the Golden Triangle neighborhood in Denver. The compo- sition embraces trauma-informed design by incorporating pedestrian scale and connectivity between interior spaces and the public realm.