A Modern Framework of Wellbeing from the Perspective of Positive Environments

Positive environments (PEs) are traditionally understood as contexts that provide the material and social resources necessary to allow individuals to flourish and experience physical and mental wellbeing. This traditional approach frames positive environments as primarily resource deliverers, which guarantee wellbeing by satisfying individual needs. However, recent conceptualizations consider PEs as more than resource providers, highlighting PEs as sustainable environments that require additional elements include: (1) enablers of environmentally responsible behaviors and (2) environmental challenges that must be over­come. From this perspective, PEs rely upon significant relationships between resources, enablers, and challenges. A balance between these three elements creates the opportunity for individual wellbeing, driven by environmental challenges, adequate access to the resources and the pres­ence of enablers instigating responsible behaviors. This chapter examines theory and evidence demonstrating the association between wellbeing and positive environments, the ways in which the elements of PEs combine and balance available sociophysical resources, instigators of responsible behaviors, and environmental challenges.