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Topic description / abstract:

Medical research and medical theory increasingly emphasize the need to include, explain, and address the role of the environment in health. This includes clarifying the positive and negative health outcomes of environmental factors for individuals, especially concerning exposure and vulnerability to climate change. My research path at KLI has primarily explored this issue from a philosophical and  a conceptual perspective, aiming to understand the intertwined nature of health and the environment. Although my research is predominantly theoretical and philosophical, it continually engages with interdisciplinary analysis and practical applications. Specifically, I have focused on understanding the health-environment connection through the lens of the salutogenic approach, originally introduced by Aaron Antonovsky (1979; 1987; 1996). My analysis adapts and applies this approach to comprehend the interplay between health and the environment, introducing the concept of salutogenic environments. The objectives of my analysis are twofold: 1) emphasizing the positive and preventive aspects of the environment concerning health, and 2) providing clarity on the contrast between pathogenic and salutogenic elements in the environment. In this talk, I will provide a brief historical and theoretical introduction to the concepts of salutogenesis. Subsequently, I will delve into the role of salutogenic environments, addressing the related epistemological, normative, and professional implications. Emphasis will be placed on the significance of salutogenic environments, highlighting their innovative potential in addressing the contemporary health and environmental crisis.  

Biographical note:

DDr. Laura Menatti is specialised in environmental philosophy, landscape theory, and philosophy of medicine. Her research aims at developing a theoretical and practical framework for the investigation of the notion of environment and its effects on health. During her research career, she has pursued an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary trajectory. Her research activities are at the crossroads of philosophy, environmental and cognitive science, they are based on a quantitative and qualitative research methodology and on-field activities. She has been teaching and doing research in different faculties and departments (medicine, architecture, philosophy, science) in Spain, Chile, Italy and France.   Recently she has been a visiting fellow (Spring Term 2022) at the Center for Philosophy of Science of the University of Pittsburgh. During 2021, she has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the  IAS-Research Centre for Life, Mind & Society of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), in San Sebastian (Spain).   She has been collaborating as lecturer with the Bordeaux School of Architecture and Landscape (ENSAPBx Bordeaux - France), the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) and the Public University of Navarra (UPNA), the University of Chile (Santiago), and the University of Desarrollo (UDD, Chile). She is also book reviews editor of the journal Landscape Research.   She has two PhDs in philosophy, one in aesthetics from the University of Pavia (Italy) and a second one in philosophy of globalisation from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). In 2015, her second PhD thesis received The Landscape Research Group Dissertation Prize for the best PhD essay on landscape (section art and design) by the Landscape Research Group (research group associated with the journal Landscape Research, Q1 Scopus).