“Beauty is our Word for the Perfection of those Qualities
that have contributed most to our Survival.”
(E.O. Wilson)

A neurological evolution-based understanding of human aesthetic responses is now being established.4 The findings come from a variety of disciplines: cognitive neuroscience, neuroscience in architecture, behavioral genetics, evolutionary biology, environmental sciences, cognitive psychology, biological anthropology, social ecology, photobiology and others. Our pattern-seeking brain is at ease in places replete with the elements and patterns embedded in healthy natural environments.

As a species, most of our emotional, problem-solving, and constructive abilities reflect skills and aptitudes learned in close association with natural systems and processes that remain critical in human health, maturation and productivity.5 An increasing number of studies are beginning to measure a multitude of physiological and psychological benefits of sustained positive connection to seasonally dynamic natural environments, to environments that are cognitively legible. Places with these qualities relax and stimulate our pattern-seeking brain in equal measure. We consider such places beautiful. Curating built environments that support a an equivalent physiologically restorative response is the goal. The experience of beauty and deep connection to place appear to be a necessity for achieving lives of fitness and satisfaction even in our modern urban society. 5 Denying this genetic dependence is akin to denying our need to breathe and eat.