Environmental Aesthetics

Abstract

Environmental aesthetics is a subfield of philosophical aesthetics that emerged in the latter 20th century. Previously, aesthetics largely focused upon issues concerning the arts, but this new subfield considered appreciation of the world at large, including non-art objects as well as the larger environments in which they reside. The most central issue in the field has been how to understand the aesthetic appreciation of nature, a question with roots in 18th- and 19th-century aesthetics as well as early environmental debates. But work in the field has extended to encompass environments that blend the natural and human, such as gardens and sites of environmental art, thoroughly urban environments, and the spaces, places, and activities of everyday life. Given its concern with the aesthetic value of environments and its connection to human well-being, environmental aesthetics often intersects with debates concerning the rationale behind, and best means for achieving, environmental protection.