Environmental Psychology 4 -Spatial planning and design

Environmental Psychology elective at Leiden University (2020-2021)

Lecture 4: Spatial planning and design

Environmental perception

Compared to traditional perception research:

  • Perceiver is in the scene
  • Perceiver is purposive, has a plan
  • Stimuli are complex (Berleyne’s three classes of stimulus properties):
  1. Psychophysical: intensity of stimulation, brightness of colors, volume of sound
  2. Ecological: indicative of positive or negative environmental conditions for people
  3. Collative stimulus properties

Collative stimulus properties

Properties based on comparisons between elements in the stimulus field:
  • Order=e.g.:symmetry
  • Complexity
  • Diversity =organized complexity
Properties based on comparisons between succession of stimuli:
  • Newness
  • Surprisingness

Kaplan, R. & Kaplan, S.,1989. The experience of nature. A psychological perspective

                                 BASIC NEEDS

                  Understanding      Exploration
---------------------------------------------

Immediate  Coherence             Diversity

Inferred,       Legibility                 Mystery
Predicted

Coherence: A coherent scene is orderly: it hangs together
Diversity: The number of different elements in a scene: its richness
Legibility: A well-structured space with distinctive elements, so that it is easy both to find one’s way within the scene and to find one’s way back to the starting point
Mystery: The promise of further information if one could walk deeper into the scene

Territoriality 

Pattern of behavior and attitudes based on perceived, attempted or actual control of a definable physical space, involving occupation, defense, personalization, and marking
 
Types of terriroriality:
  • Primary (home, or spaces within home (e.g. bedroom)
  • Secondary (office, lobby, stairway, elevator)
  • Public (park, sidewalk, beach, parking place)
Effects of terriroriality/ownership
  • Infringement (invasion, violation, contamination) and defense (preventative reaction)
  • Warding off crime (defensible space), creating social order, improve maintenance (e.g. ‘adoption’ of neighbourhood park, playground, highway)

 Applications in design and management for public territory

Neighbourhoods: increased ownership --> improved safety, reduced noise and air pollution, made surveillance easier
Hospitals: increased personalization --> increased wellbeing, faster recovery
 

Kaplan, R. & Austin, M. E., 2004. Out in the country: sprawl and the quest for nature nearby

  • People like to live near nature
  • On an aggregate level this causes urban sprawl and the destruction of nature
  • So for people moved to live “out in the country”, what were the main reasons?

Research questions:

  • Which kind of nature is specifically liked?
  • How important is nature for community satisfaction?
  • Is there a way to solve the dilemma, make solutions more environmentally sustainable

Conclusion of research:

  • Forest is most important satisfier of “living out in the country”
  • Having a forest nearby is more satisfying than having a big house
    • Having smaller houses and leaving more room for forests is better
  • Based on perceived ownership:
    • Communally owned forests may be the way to preserve forests

Devlin, A. S., Andrade, C. C., & Carvalho, D., 2016. Qualities of inpatient hospital rooms: Patients’ perspectives

Ulrich’s theory of supportive design in healthcare

  • Design can promote well-being when three essential needs are addressed:

    • Sense of control over surroundings (e.g., single rooms, adjustable bed, control over TV)
    • Access to social support (e.g., bedside phone, privacy, seating for visitors, or overnight accommodations)
    • Access to positive distractions (e.g., natural view, plants, music, TV)

Evans, G. W., Lepore, S. J., & Schroeder, A.,1996. The role of interior design elements in human responses to crowding.

  • High density leads to psychological distress
  • High density leads to social withdrawal
  • High density in home disturbs supportive relationships
  • Few studies on interior design and crowding
  • Floor-plan likely to influence social interaction patterns within home

Space syntax:architectural theory on elements and relationships in design

Depth: the number of spaces one must pass through to go from one place to the next
 
Conclusion of study: 
  • Distress due to high density can be prevented by increased architectural depth
  • Ease of controlling social interaction reduces social withdrawal
  • Paradox: people have better, more supportive  relationships when environment facilitates being alone

Evans, G. W., & Kim, P., 2007. Childhood poverty and health. Cumulative risk exposure and stress dysregulation

Childhood poverty leads to increased morbidity, decreased life span
 
Multiple risks:
  • Housing quality

    • Substandard housing
  • Physical context
    • Noise 
    • Inside density (people/room ratio)
  • Social context
    • Family turmoil
    • Child’s separation from parents
    • Exposure to violence

Findings in study:

  • Cortisol level higher by longer poverty duration; not mediated by multiple risk (possibly due to delay in effect)
  • Longer poverty period related to less adequate stress regulation as shown by blood pressure changes during Math task; mediated by multiple risk
  •  Children are more at risk to stressors when they are younger

Conclusion: 

  • “Elevated cumulative risk exposure during early childhood compromises the ability of the body to handle environmental demands efficiently”
  • Stress dysregulation potentially explains association between childhood social class (NOT adult social class) and morbidity/mortality

Staats, H., & Groot, P. (2019). Seat choice in a crowded cafe: Effects of eye contact, distance, and anchoring.

Where people want to sit in a café relates to the spatial position of other nearby people
Intimacy and privacy levels may determine seat choice

Keeping distance: two factors:

  • Intimacy

    • Approach and avoidance tendencies in an interpersonal setting

      • Hypothesis 1a: minimal eye-contact
      • Hypothesis 1b: maximal distance
  • Privacy
    • Control over social input
      •     Hypothesis 1c: maximal privacy

Secondary measures:

  • Emotional response to available seats

    • Two components: “pleasure” and “arousal”
  • Social cognitions
    • Three components: “sad-lonely”, “voluntary contact”, and “obliged contact”

Results of study: What seating preference did participants indicate?

  • Participants indicated preference for a low eye-contact seat (Scenario 1) and for a seat that was ‘anchored’ to a wall and thus more private (Scenario 3). Unexpectedly, the size of the table (Scenario 2) did not influence seating preference.

Conclusion:

  • Most of the lone café visitors will prefer a less intimate, more private kind of seat, in accordance with theory
  • However, a minority of people actually prefers a more intimate, less private kind of seat, which they find both pleasurable and arousing
 
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