This article illustrates, how urban agriculture and Buddhist concepts create a healthy city for physical and mental wellbeing for the people in Anuradhapura heritage city. Further, it discusses how it establishes a sustainable city, significant with spiritual understanding. ‘Health and wellbeing’ is the 3rd goal in the UN 17 sustainable developments goals [1]. It describes, [...]

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Healthy city for wellbeing: Lessons from heritage city Anuradhapura

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This article illustrates, how urban agriculture and Buddhist concepts create a healthy city for physical and mental wellbeing for the people in Anuradhapura heritage city. Further, it discusses how it establishes a sustainable city, significant with spiritual understanding. ‘Health and wellbeing’ is the 3rd goal in the UN 17 sustainable developments goals [1]. It describes, ‘Healthy life promoting well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable developments’. Healthy life includes both physical and mental health.

Our heritage cities provide enormous resources, to understand sustainable developments [2]. In contrast to what we have lost in our systems today, we were a nation having with great traditional knowledge, advanced technologies; enjoyed a sustainable social, cultural, economic and spiritual living system in our cities, villages and landscapes. Landscape consists of both built elements and natural elements. Landscape matter, our way of life. Landscape provide the setting for our daily lives [3].

Most of our heritage cities and settlements are Buddhist landscapes that guided our way of life. Buddhism has been inscribed in these landscapes and activated a ‘system’ to live with nature [4]. People understood the ‘universal truth’, the ‘four noble truths’ through performing in these landscapes. Anuradhapura is one of the best example of this kind.

Following points explain how this has been happened and ensured the health and wellbeing for the people in Anuradhapura, during early days.

Spiritual experience in cities and landscape.

According to the Buddhism and any other religious understanding, human beings are born in this world to achieve higher levels of mind. This process reveals spiritual experience. Therefore, it is understood, how far our social/cultural systems, cities and landscape are responsible for guiding people. Spiritual experience is significant in traditional cities and settlements.

The ‘four noble truths,’ the fundamental concept of Buddhist philosophy, explains how everyday life relates to the world and landscape that guides sacred experience. The four noble truths; ‘Pain’ and ‘Origin of pain’ together, which is earthly bounded, ‘Lead to stopping’. This process unfolds the sanctity of ‘No pain’ [5]. People experience this universal truth by performing in Buddhist landscape. They rejoice the spiritual experience that stimulate the ‘health and wellbeing’.

The Buddhist sacred atmosphere apparent in Anuradhapura is characterised by the great architectural edifices, reflections of large stupa falling on the vast water tanks, paddy fields, canal systems and natural landscape. All these are interwoven with the lives of people, the social, cultural, religious system. Recent research investigates that ‘spiritual experiences are robust states that may have profound impacts on people’s lives’ [11],[6].

Nature and natural landscape for the spiritual direction of the city.

Nature and natural landscape is a significant element in Anuradhapura. The South North orientation of the Malwathu Oya has given the primary ‘spiritual direction’ for the city. Rocks, boulders, caves and the granite formation parallel to the river strengthen this understanding [7]. These are important natural elements in sacred landscape [8]. This geographical and geometrical formation marked a stretch of land area in-between the river and the granite formation. This area has been recognized as sacred throughout the history. This spiritual experience has been emphasised by Buddha’s visit to this location [7].

The city has been evolved at this spiritual identification of the nature and the natural landscape. Also, the recent Archaeological excavations confirmed that the importance of the location of Anuradhapura, for a human settlement had been identified long ago in the human history, up to 3900 BCE [9].

Anuradhapura city is surrounded by six main wewa and associated paddy fields establish the city form and shape, around this spiritual identification of the nature and natural landscape. The geometry of this city form establishes centralised effect; directs the centre. The centre is symbolised through piers of the stupa, urban monasteries and citadel. The agriculture and irrigation at the periphery further enhance the centre [7]. The centre is recognised as sacred, having spiritual experiences in many cultures and in sacred geometry [10]. Hence, the view of Anuradhapura city form, architecture and landscape matter health and wellbeing.

Urban agriculture for wellbeing. The agriculture and irrigation landscape play a vital role throughout the history in these sacred urban landscapes in Sri Lanka. Urban agriculture is not a new concept for us. The ploughing ritual by King Devanampiyatissa established the city boundaries, described in Mahawamsa [11]. The king has ploughed the peripheries of the marked places; marked a sanctity, for the survival of a settlement upon agriculture [12].

Tiring works in the fields, increases the physical health of the body. Further it establishes a balance condition between the body and the outside space. This condition is physically and mentally achieved; explained as ‘embodied landscape’ [11], [13]. Recent research explains spiritual experience in embodied landscape, increases the mental health [14].

The active body in agriculture, institutes an embodied space, through interactions between the body and the topography and the landscape. Through this process people realize the pain and the origin of the pain together, that lead to the sanctity of no-pain. People experience sanctity dynamically, which is a good experience for human well-being as well as good for the landscape and the city [11].

A large number of clergy, who attained to the higher ordination or near to the higher ordination depend on the laborious works of the life of the people, who are attached to the irrigation and cultivation lands at the periphery. Through hard working, well-being and serving the centre, they also enter to the sanctity, the higher levels of minds [11]. All these create a HEALTHY space FOR WELLBEING, in Anuradhapura.

Walking across the landscape. Anuradhapura has been a walking city; giving prominence to the bodily understanding of the landscape. This ensures the understanding of the universal truth, by performing in landscape. The city, landscape, architecture, topography, geography and nature are experienced by the exposed body. This is through walking, climbing up & down, ploughing, walking around the symbolic sacred elements and engaging in the landscape. All these uplift the mind and body. The body touches and sense the earthly materials; sand, rocks, rocky terrains, mud, water, grass and sense the landscape and nature. This confirms healthy space for a healthy city, for the health and wellbeing of people, who drive this living system [11].

In Anuradhapura heritage city, nature, natural landscape, built elements, architecture, water tanks, paddy fields, canal systems are interwoven with the lives of people, and with the social, cultural, economic and religious system. This harmonious relationship creates a self-sustainable unit. The ‘healthy space’ and the ‘healthy city’ uplift the mind and body, ensures the health and wellbeing [11].

What is missing in our context

Today, spiritual experience in our systems, cities, roads, working places, is insignificant, complicate and confused. Nature and natural landscape is neglected and overpowered by the developments. Natural landscapes/ elements are treated only as an outside object for the beautification. Landscape and agriculture is not socially, culturally and functionally united with the urban life and the city. We are facing the consequences of loss of traditional knowledge, in irrigation and cultivation. We have given the least importance to the body in our cities and landscapes. There’s no place for the people, that encourage bodily sense of the landscape, and cities. People, experience landscape through vehicles, and buildings. Our cities are congested by vehicles; no more walking cities. There are many areas to re-evaluate, and re-arrange the SYSTEM we are following today.

Dr. Wasana De Silva. PhD Architecture (UK), Chartered Architect.

Senior Lecturer, Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa.

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