Planning and Design for Human Behaviour

1. Planning and Design for Human Behaviour Adapted from Bell, Greene, Fisher, & Baum (2001)

2. Environmental Psychology and Design • A. Lang’s Framework 1. Basic Purposes of Designed Environments • 2. Positive vs. Normative Theory • 3. Procedural vs. Substantive Theory • B. Design and Culture 1. Grand Design Tradition • 2. Folk Design Tradition • a) Primitive Architecture • b) Preindustrial Vernacular Architecture • C. Fostering Communication 1. Congruence • 2. User-Needs Gap • a) How Architects vs. Laypersons Judge Buildings • b) Fostering Participation to Reduce User-Needs Gap • 3. Client-Client Gap • 4. Applicability Gap • D. Putting Substantive Theory to Use 1. Privacy and Personal Space • 2. Materials and Colour • 3. Illumination • 4. Windows • 5. Furnishings • 6. Architectural Aesthetics • 7. Place • E. The Design Cycle 1. Phases • 2. North American Campuses: An Example

3. II. Residential Environments A. Place Attachment B. Preferences C. Satisfaction with the Home Environment 1. Physical aspects of the house 2. How housing structures space - Privacy - Use of space in the home 3. Safety 4. Sense of Community - Neighbourhood Environments - Cohousing

4. Environmental Psychology and Design • Good Design Fosters: - Comfort - Safety - Productivity • Bad Design Fosters: - Powerlessness - Stress • Human behaviour connects design and psychology • How Psychology Helps Design: • Demonstrates effects of environmental features on inhabitants • Facilitates the social and political processes of problem solving and decision making that characterize design

5. Lang’s Framework • Basic Purposes of Designed Environments: • Commodity = functional goal • Firmness = structural integrity • Delight = aesthetic concern • Positive vs. Normative Theory: • Positive Theory = procedures or design components that are based on empirical observations rather than opinions or values • Normative Theory = approaches to design based on values and opinions rather than empirical facts

6. Lang’s Framework • Procedural vs. Substantive Theory • Procedural Theory = methods of gathering data and making decisions • Substantive Theory = useful facts about the relationship between environmental variables such as construction techniques, colour, or privacy and design goals.

7. PURPOSES: • - Commodity • - Firmness • Delight Lang’s Framework PROCEDURAL (Methodological) POSITIVE THEORY (Empirical) SUBSTANTIVE (Useful Facts) NORMATIVE THEORY (Value-Based)

8. Design and Culture • Grand design tradition = architecture, such as monuments or impressive facades, built to impress the populace, client, or other architects (pyramids, Eiffel Tower) • Folk design tradition = architecture based on the day-to-day needs of people as they live, shop, and work; design familiar to the common person in everyday life (e.g., your house)

9. Design and Culture • Folk Design Tradition • Primitive Architecture = the architecture of so- called primitive societies • Shelter is constructed according to standard techniques that have evolved over time • These are often quite sophisticated solutions to environmental demands • Preindustrial Vernacular Architecture = the design of common buildings in nonindustrialized cultures • There is relatively little individual variation in style, but construction techniques often have evolved as good solutions to environmental demands

10. Design and Culture • As Societies Industrialize: • Designer is more likely to be an architect rather than a member of family • Design is less constrained by climatic conditions • Changes in building design and construction techniques occur at a faster pace • Shelter and survival are expectations not concerns • Beyond durability and safety, modern building design criteria include aesthetics, comfort, and efficiency • High dependence on technology (e.g., furnaces, air conditioning, electric lighting)

11. Fostering Communication • Congruence = the “fit” between user needs or preferences and the physical features of a setting • One way to achieve congruence is to incorporate flexibility into a design. • Success in achieving congruence is determined in part by the number of design alternatives. • Design Alternatives = the list of potential solutions to a design problem • Design alternatives can be ruled out by various design criteria

12. Fostering Communication The Gaps RESEARCHERS PAYING CLIENTS Applicability Gap Client-Client Gap User-Needs Gap USING CLIENTS DESIGNERS

13. Fostering Communication • Architects judge buildings according to: • Building style, form, design quality, or historic significance (Groat, 1982) • Design ideas and concepts (Devlin, 1990) • Physical aspects of design (Hubbard, 1996) • Laypersons judge buildings according to: • Building type (Groat, 1982) • General affect, descriptions of the physical features (Devlin, 1990) • Cognitive constructs, global assessment of preference (Hubbard, 1996)

14. Fostering Communication • Fostering Participation to Reduce User-Needs Gap • Consult the using clients early • Give concrete alternatives • Present alternatives using visual or spatial materials

15. Fostering Communication • How the Applicability Gap Emerges • Designers ignore the research findings of environmental psychologists • Researchers ignore the needs of designers • Designers and researchers don’t understand each other’s areas of expertise (but we can fix this!)

16. Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Privacy and Personal Space • Solid barriers reduce the impact of personal space invasions, whereas clear or see-through barriers do not (Baum, Reis, & O’Hara, 1974; Desor, 1972). • Lack of auditory privacy is more upsetting than lack of visual privacy (Kupritz, 1998).

17. PRIVATE (e.g., inner office) INNER OFFICE OUTER OFFICE HALLWAY SEMI-PRIVATE (e.g., outer office) DESK SEMI-PUBLIC (e.g., lab/classroom) U of T offices PUBLIC (e.g., hallway) Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Privacy Hierarchy

18. Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Materials and Colour • Colours don’t seem to impact our perception of temperature. • Colours don’t seem to impact our mood or performance. • Colours do impact our perception of crowding: Lighter colours reduce perceptions of crowding. • Building materials impact our perceptions of the house’s owner.

19. Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Illumination • Full-spectrum light does NOT produce higher productivity and better health. • Low light levels tend to lead to greater intimacy. • Preferred levels of illumination depend on present activity. • Control of illumination is most important when level of illumination is most important.

20. Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Windows • Why we like windows: • Ventilation • Source of weather information • Ability to see people • Regulate temperature • Portals for passing objects (e.g., drive-thru) • Psychological escape • Decorative • Source of sunlight • Connection to the outside world

21. Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Furnishings • Horseshoe or circular arrangement of classroom desks generates student interest and participation. • The front-middle area of the standard classroom arrangement promotes verbalization and facilitates attention.

22. Instructor High Participation High Participation High Participation Moderate Participation High Participation Moderate Participation Moderate Participation High Participation Moderate Participation Low Participation Moderate Participation Low Participation Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Furnishings • Participation in the Standard Classroom

23. Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Furnishings • Furniture arrangements can facilitate communication and social interaction • Sociopetal = designs that encourage social interaction • Sociofugal = designs that discourage social interaction • Furniture arrangements can organize a room • Quality of furniture may have psychological benefits

24. Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Furnishings • Potted plants make an office seems more comfortable and more attractive • No potted plants improves performance on simple and repetitive tasks • Factors in decision-making re. furnishings: cost, aesthetics, function of the setting

25. Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Architectural Aesthetics • Aesthetics = an attempt to identify, to understand, and to create those features of an environment that lead to pleasurable responses

26. Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Architectural Aesthetics • Types of Aesthetic Design Characters • Formal Aesthetics - includes dimensions such as shape, proportion, scale, novelty, illumination, and complexity • Primary Formal Variables: (1) Enclosure (openness, spaciousness, density, mystery); (2) Complexity (diversity, visual richness, ornamentation, information rate); (3) Order (unity, order, clarity) • Symbolic Aesthetics – denotative or connotative meaning • Denotative: e.g., building’s function, style • Connotative: how you perceive it, e.g., friendly? Imposing? • Sources of Symbolic Aesthetics: naturalness, upkeep, intensity of use, style

27. Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Architectural Aesthetics • Pleasant rooms: • Lead to more positive evaluations of photographed people • Make people feel more comfortable • Make people more willing to help others • Make people more willing to talk to one another

28. Putting Substantive Theory to Use • Place • Place attachment/Sense of Place = the sense of rootedness people feel toward certain places • Characteristics of Place Attachment • Personal • Private • Highly valued • May be perceived as spiritual or religious • Source of Place Attachment • Aesthetics • Memory with events, persons, or feelings • Place can be understood, but it cannot be specifically defined

29. The Design Cycle General Design Knowledge Postdiagnostic Evaluation Predesign Programming Predesign Programming Current project Next project Use and Adaptation Design Construction

30. The Design Cycle

31. North American Campuses: An Example of Design Dynamics • Most universities have a core space. • Campus buildings demonstrate change (e.g., co-ed dorms, accessibility, fear of crime)

32. North American Campuses: An Example of Design Dynamics • Master plan = a map or series of maps that coordinate future building • Organic growth = piecemeal development where users initiate design and architects and contractors build • Pattern language = prescriptions for design problems presented in such a way that they allow user participation in design

33. Residential Environments • Place Attachment • Homes Provide Meaning and Identity • Signify status • Structure social relationships • Afford a location for major activities of daily living • Centres of regular and predictable events • Trigger memories central to our formative past • Thus place attachment! • Greater place attachment means greater distress if leaving

34. Residential Environments • Place Attachment • Results from bonds with: • Your home • Your neighbours • Furnishings, antiques, heirlooms, automobiles • Religious practices • Places with lower transportation mobility tend to have higher place attachments • However, attachment to a type of settlement (e.g., city, suburb) remains strong regardless of mobility level

35. Residential Environments • Preferences • The detached, single-family home in the suburbs is the most preferred because: • Growing pride in home ownership • Government incentives to home ownership • Good transportation systems • Structure of suburban space (environmental psychology) • Clear boundaries that form a distinct whole

36. Residential Environments • Preferences • Factors Impacting Home Location Choice • Economic • Status of housing or neighbourhood • Security and crime rates • Commuting time • Quality of schools • Shopping and services • Disadvantages of Suburbia • Airports • Increasing industry • Increasing growth • Increasing traffic • Increasing noise • Increasing strains on public service • Major commute

37. Residential Environments • Satisfaction with the Home Environment • Physical aspects of the house (e.g., quality of construction, support of basic living needs) • How housing structures space (i.e., crowding and privacy, and how these affect ability to support basic living needs) • Safety • Sense of community

38. Residential Environments • Physical Aspects of Home Satisfaction • The more easily functions can be performed in the home, the more satisfied we are. • If alternative dwellings are deemed inferior, home satisfaction increases. • Physical features that can disrupt functioning: • (1) Size and floor plan; (2) not having enough room to work; (3) having too many rooms to clean; (4) being too close to noisy areas of the house; (5) poor plumbing, heating or kitchen facilities; (6) small living and dining areas; (7) badly designed kitchens and bathrooms; (8) lack of storage space

39. Residential Environments • Physical Aspects of Home Satisfaction • Physical and social features are often interdependent • E.g., Australian aborigines • The importance of perceived control over social life crosses cultural boundaries • E.g., Living with elderly relative

40. Residential Environments • Structure of Space – Privacy • Privacy in the home is achieved in one of two ways: one involving and one not involving environmental features. • Designers must develop a variety of interior designs to ensure that individual family styles can be accommodated.

41. Residential Environments • Sense of Community • Social ties are important for residential satisfaction, particularly for residents of low-income housing. • Social ties create a sense of community, more territorial personalization, and more group ownership of public space.

42. Residential Environments • Use of Space in the Home • Bedrooms • A private space • Master bedrooms growing in size because (1) multiple functions (2) two working adults • Bathrooms • Have more than thirty functions: hygienic and social • Bathrooms are growing in size and changing in design because many households now have two working adults

43. Residential Environments • Neighbourhood Environments • Propinquity = nearness between places people occupy • Euclidian distance = objective physical distance • Functional distance = likelihood of two individuals coming into contact • Why Propinquity Leads to Friendship • Propinquity determines who you meet • Continued contact leads to greater efforts • Continued interaction leads to predictability and security • Familiarity leads to attraction

44. Residential Environments • Neighbourhood Environments • Neighbourhood Cohesion: • Neighbouring (e.g., general friendliness, looking out for one another’s interests, providing social support) • Sense of Community • Lack of Cohesion results from the lack of a sense of community • How to Increase Sense of Community • Front porches • Green space • Ownership of property • Neighbourhood meetings and organizations

45. Residential Environments • Cohousing = a type of housing in which families have their own private residences but share large facilities, such as a master kitchen and recreation area