CHURCH SURROUNDINGS AS SPACES WITH A HEALTH-PROMOTING FUNCTION – POSSIBILITIES AND DILEMMAS
CHURCH SURROUNDINGS AS SPACES WITH A HEALTH-PROMOTING FUNCTION – POSSIBILITIES AND DILEMMAS

Summary/Abstract: Motives: Climate and socio-economic changes exert a negative influence on human health, bothphysical and psychological. Therefore, various solutions are needed to address this problem, and thespaces surrounding religious sites should be analysed to determine whether they can improve health.Can plant and garden arrangements accompanying parish churches have health-promoting properties?Aim: The aim of this work was to answer the above questions by analysing selected parish churchesof the Lublin Archdiocese.Results: An analysis of the compositional structure of vegetation and the functional-spatialarrangement of religious sites revealed that these spaces have vast, albeit not fully utilised potential.Despite the fact that these spaces are addressed predominantly to believers, their unique features canpromote recreation and even improve health, regardless of one’s religious beliefs and practices.

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