In Praise of Walking: A New Scientific Exploration

by Shane O'Mara

As we explored in the last chapter, as more and more of us live in towns and cities, green spaces will only become more essential for our well-being. Building design, especially in northerly and more inclement regions, has, in some respects, historically taken account of this fact. Cloisters in university buildings, monasteries and other locations, allow people to walk outdoors while protected from the elements. Cloisters are sometimes referred to by their ritual and processional purpose – deambulatorium, obambulatorium, ambitus – the solemn, Latin descriptors of the architectural elements of a monastery, all derived from the root ‘ambio’ – ‘I walk in a circle’.5 They are also often called, appropriately enough, ambulatories. And, of course, cloisters are usually constructed around a garden – ensuring a tamed element of nature is at the centre of the walk.