This study investigates the association between specific architectural plan circulation types (Straight, L-shape, Path Around) and wayfinding strategies (Open Plan and Visual Access, Reference Point, Small Scale, Architectural Differentiation, Avoiding Wander Moments) in dementia-friendly nursing homes. A structured survey using a 5-point Likert scale was used to gather 52 experts' analyses of six architectural plans. Experts were selected through snowball sampling. One-way ANOVA was employed to measure the association between variables. Post hoc analysis indicated that Path Around plans significantly supported the Open Space wayfinding strategy compared to L-shape plans. L-shape and Straight types scored lower for the Reference Point strategy, while Path Around layouts notably supported it. Path Around and one L-shape layout effectively addressed Small Scale strategies. Architectural Differentiation varied among samples; no significant interactions were found in Wandering moments. Overall, Path Around circulation types showed more potential in supporting wayfinding strategies. This study highlights the importance of understanding how circulation types impact navigation in dementia-friendly environments.

Long-term well-being in disaster-prone environments remains a critical yet underexplored aspect of disaster planning and design. Central to this well-being is psychological resilience and mental health, particularly among individuals and communities routinely dealing with climate-induced stressors. This paper integrates two foundational stress management frameworks—Aaron Antonovsky’s Sense of Coherence (SOC) theory and Stevan Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resources (COR) theory—as a strategy for sustainable disaster recovery. SOC, a core element of Antonovsky’s salutogenic model, shifts focus from disease and risk factors to proactive health promotion, and emphasizes three core components- comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness, as key to pro-recovery behavior. COR theory, on the other hand, focuses on acquiring, protecting, and retaining resources. It posits that stress emerges when resources are lost or threatened. This paper links the SOC components with COR’s resource-conservation approach, to present an enhanced understanding of how resource acquisition and utilization mediate the strength of the SOC in disaster-prone environments. This exploration offers a foundation for an integrated, resource-based framework that can inform resilient community planning and design. Highlighting the cyclical nature of disaster events, this research advocates for a salutogenic, resource-oriented approach that redefines long-term recovery and resilience in sustainable community design.

Jackson, Mississippi is a unique place, the capital of the most low-income state in the nation, the Blackest major city in the United States per capita, and a city whose history is translated through its infrastructure and built landscape. While the implementation of policies and regulation are directly in view as forms of disenfranchisement in marginalized communities, public infrastructure, urban planning, and the built environment are not often recognized as forms of regulation. Architecture and public infrastructure have been documented as having devastating effects on marginalized communities, but are often overlooked, as they are not easily identifiable. The placement of highways, railroads, housing and more, have had profound effects on the organization of different demographic groups within the city of Jackson - the effects of which can still be seen today. The above implicates exclusionary infrastructure, defined here as the placement of built works that hinder accessibility between communities, resulting in systemic disinvestment and social plight. The paper examines how these factors have resulted in inequity at multiple scales and leverages that research to better understand how architecture can be a form of liberation rather than control.

The research is interdisciplinary in nature, from urban planning, social justice theory, and as well as design. [CE1] The paper analyzes where infrastructural design has contributed to social inequity in Jackson, Mississippi. Original GIS mapping and spatial analyses of Jackson were used to study economic distribution, housing, racial demographics, and the contextual relationships of each and its correlation to major infrastructure. These studies provide a nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of the built environment and social impact[CE2] . Analysis of the research helped identify what public infrastructure had the most negative impacts on Jackson communities. .