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Small changes to your physical surroundings can lead to big payoffs.

Well-being and resilience are based on the physical environment too, not just our inner world.

Apply the walk audit—a tool from urban planning—to enhance your life.

Most of psychology focuses on our inner experiences or our relationships with other humans. These are important, but they don’t happen in a void. Our physical environments shape our experiences and impact our well-being and resilience too.

One especially neglected area is the built environment. These are the human-made spaces where most of us spend most of our time.

Our physical environments can support our well-being and ability to overcome challenges (resilience)--or not. Everyone knows that generic cubicles and ugly fluorescent lighting can be soul-sucking environments, but there’s more to it than that—and a walk audit can help you maximize your surroundings.

Working on our physical spaces pays off 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sometimes it is hard to exercise, meditate, or journal. We might be too sick, busy, or dealing with crises. A supportive physical environment can help sustain you through those times. It’s a key element of our resilience portfolios. Also, tweaking the physical environment can help many people at once.

How to Conduct a Walk Audit

A walk audit is a simple tool that involves intentionally moving through the spaces of your life, and trying to see them with fresh eyes.

Choose one space at a time to focus on: workplace, school, home, or somewhere else.

Slow down and try to remember your first impressions of the space. Take at least 10-15 minutes to walk around (longer if it is a big space), and then process what you observed. It can be good to walk with others who use the space.

Consider the following. Feel free to take photos or videos as you walk.

Take a........

© Psychology Today