Article 32 of the Italian Constitution states as follows:
The Italian Republic protects health as a fundamental right of the individual and as a collective interest, and guarantees free medical care to the indigent.
This concept is reaffirmed even by article 35 of EU Charter of Fundamental Rights according to which
Everyone has the right of access to preventive health care and the right to benefit from medical treatment under the conditions established by national laws and practices. A high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities.
Often, however, when we talk about health we mainly refer to the right to access health care or to all those direct measures that can favor the psychic and physical well-being of a person, and therefore we forget about the indirect ones.
It is estimated that we spend 90 percent of our life inside artificial spaces the impact these have on our well-being cannot be overlooked. The quality of the built environment, in fact, is a fundamental element for the construction of a real right to health.
Neuroscience has revealed this aspect: the fragility of constructions. A fragility that affects men, producing stress and mental fatigue, and weakening the natural pro-sociality of individuals. The emotions have disappeared, and with them the desire. The flexibility of the space has erased the track of interactions to favor only economic metrics. Space remains only a surface, not a place.
Davide Ruzzon
Neuroscience is giving a substantial contribution to architecture, helping it to regain possession of emotions and desires and to find the way towards the design of places rather than sterile and alienating spaces.
These are the topics covered by the architect Davide Ruzzon during his speech for the Territorial Lab – Places that cure organized by the Fondazione per l’architettura / Torino on 16 March in Cuneo as part of the experimental course Well Impact: Cultural Wellbeing Lab promoted by the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation.
At the following link you can find more information on the initiatives promoted by Fondazione compagnia San Paolo: