Environment And Behavior

Front 1

Interaction

Back 1

The reciprocal relationship between the physical environment and behavior.

Examples:
The constraints the natural and physical environment impose on forms of urban development (density, building codes in hurricane prone areas).
The depletion of renewable and non-renewable resources to create built environments.
The way a space makes you feel (poor lit areas and feeling unsafe, green environments and relaxation).

Front 2

Context

Back 2

The conditions in which ENVBEHVR interactions exist; the geographic, social, cultural, and historical patterns that (re) produce an environment.

Examples:
How culutres shape the form and use of built environments (religious buildings, access to food, opportunities for genders to mix and socialize).
How social relations and economic status are reflected in the built environment (single family homes vs. squatting).
How history and geography influence the form and use of a built environment (weather patterns and building location/design, statues of historical figures in public plazas).

Front 3

Power

Back 3

Analysis of which social groups exert authority, control, influence over an environment, and how environments are representative of social relationships.

Examples:
How landscapes reflect who has the power to make and remake an environment (bull dozing slums and replacing them with higher income housing).
How environments reflect power relations within a society (all desks facing teacher at the front of room, gated communities).

Front 4

Diversity

Back 4

The importance of an environment to accommodate a range of users (based on gender, age, culture, etc.) and the range of elements found in an environment (in terms of pattern, texture, form).

Examples:
Which social groups use particular spaces (women in domestic spheres, men in public spaces, children and playgrounds).
How social difference is reflected in the built environment (spaces of exclusion and inclusion).
The importance of having a range of elements in the physical environment (paths, nodes, edges, districts, landmarks, density, mixed use).

Front 5

Contest

Back 5

The struggle for control or use of an environment to suit the user's own needs and desires.

Examples:
What individuals or groups do when there is an incongruence between the designer's vision of a built environment and the way people actually want to use a space.
Taking over a street to watch a soccer match outside a deli.
Homeless people sleeping on benches.
Graffiti as a form of cultural and political expression.

Front 6

Environmental Determinism

Back 6

The design of the physical environment has a direct and deterministic effect on the way people behave.

Front 7

Possibilism

Back 7

The environment provides opportunities for a range of possible human responses, but people have discretion to choose between them.

Front 8

Place as a Set of Visual Attributes

Back 8

A shared language among architects and designers to differentiate the elements of urban form to create "visual excitement" and attractiveness to the user.

Examples:
Streets
Squares
Buildings
Study of place height/width
Depth
Proportion
Edges, Nodes, Paths, Districts

Front 9

Place as Product

Back 9

Emphasis on market driven development and the creation of urban spaces that are marketed to users, becoming more common as a way to redevelop declining areas of cities. Emphasis on a certain theme or iconography within the space.

Examples:
Theme parks
Shopping districts
Mixed use development promoted on qualities to create sense of place
New urbanism sold on promoting social interaction, neighborliness, and walkability

Front 10

Place as Process

Back 10

The transformation of place throughout time; places transform, grow, decline, and are redeveloped; the social and political economic forces affecting place at local, regional, national, and international scales of analysis.

Examples:
Transforming notions of place through development (decaying neighborhood into an artist enclave).

Front 11

Place as Meaning

Back 11

Addresses how people perceive the built environment and impart meaning to it through experience; highly subjective, interpretation of meaning depends on who is narrating the story about place.

Example:
Sacred Places
Places of belonging and exclusion
Mythical versus real places

Front 12

Diagnostic Research Approach

Back 12

A broad assessment of a setting--its parts, structure, and dynamics--seeking breadth of understanding.

Front 13

Descriptive Research Approach

Back 13

Describe or measure one or more aspects of a setting as precisely as possible.

Front 14

Theoretical Research Approach

Back 14

Test hypotheses, derived from pre-existing theory, to determine whether a setting functions as the theory would predict.

Front 15

Action Research Approach

Back 15

Seeks to understand a setting as the basis for making changes to improve the way it functions, and then evaluates the consequences of these changes in order to plan more effective strategies for further changes in the future.

Front 16

Case Study Research Approach

Back 16

diagnose or describe a complex subject either because it is unusual or unique--and important for this reason--or becuase it is believed to be representative of others like itself. typically use multiple methods to understand their subject, such as observations, interviews, and the analysis of historical records.

Front 17

Survey Research Design

Back 17

Surveys include any measurement procedure that involves asking questions of respondents, from short paper-and-pencil questionnaires to a series of in-depth interviews. They can be used to simply describe the characteristics of a subject—such as interviews with custodians to identify types of vandalism in Boston schools. Most often, surveys gather information for co relational research, which looks for relationships among naturally occurring variations: for example, examining how vandalism varies relative to schools’ age or design features.

Front 18

Experiment Research Design

Back 18

Seek to establish cause and affect relationships by systematically manipulating independent variables in order to observe effects on dependent variables, controlling for other factors that might affect outcomes.

Front 19

Natural Research Settings

Back 19

Allow the researcher to observe behavior in context; difficult to control for all the variables that may be contributing to an E&B phenomenon.

Front 20

Laboratory Research Settings

Back 20

Allow the strongest experimental controls--at the cost of being contrived settings with questionable relevance to the real world.

Front 21

Territoriality

Back 21

A set of behaviors and cognitions that a person or group exhibits based on PERCIEVED ownership of physical space.

Front 22

Super Block

Back 22

Developed area with a street like surface where no car traffic flows, but rather recreational activities often take place.

Front 23

Territoriality: Primary

Back 23

Home; a place percieved to you as your own.

Front 24

Territoriality; Secondary

Back 24

Street; a place you use frequently but is also used by others. Shared ownership.

Front 25

Territoriality: Public

Back 25

Park; Less control over percieved place.

Front 26

Territorial Communication

Back 26

Graphically; graffiti, no trespassing signs.
Verbally; teasing, bullying, literally telling.
Non-verbally; body language.
Environmental; use of gate or fence.

Front 27

Blockism

Back 27

The sense that one comes from, blongs to, and represents a particular block.

Front 28

Place Attachment

Back 28

A place where your memories are developed and nourished

Front 29

Childhood Special Places

Back 29

1.) Purpose built adult spaces taken over by children for their own use.
2.) Hiding places molded out of the natural landscape.
3.) Places specifically constructed for play.

Front 30

Defensible Space

Back 30

A range of design mechanisms that inhibit crime by creating an environment that is percieved by criminals as being controlled by residents.

Front 31

What makes a space defensible?

Back 31

-Hierarchy of Space
-Natural Surveillance
-Territorial Communication
-Context

Front 32

Hierarchy of Space

Back 32

Create differentiation between distinct areas of public and private space.

Front 33

Symbolic Barriers

Back 33

Barriers which don't inhibit flow but imply that space is private.

Front 34

Natural Surveillance

Back 34

Public space which is surrounded by viewing possibilities.

Front 35

Territorial Communication

Back 35

A sign reading "No Trespassing"
Trees create a more appealing environment which leads to a safer environment.

Front 36

Cognitive Map

Back 36

A mental framework that holds some representation of the spatial arrangement of the physical environment.

Front 37

Kevin Lynch: City Imageability Elements

Back 37

Path; connectors
Edges; seperators
Landmarks; obvservances
Nodes; intersectors
Districts; region

Front 38

Imageability

Back 38

Ability of elements of a city to evoke strong associations and emotions in any given observer.

Front 39

Legibility

Back 39

Organization of the elements of the city that allows them to be seen as a coherent whole.

Front 40

Wayfinding

Back 40

The cognitive and memorable instincts one exhibits when traveling from point A to point B.

Front 41

Hope VI

Back 41

Department of Housing and Urban Development's plan to revitalize run down public housing projects into mixed-income developments.

Goals:
-Decrease concentration of poverty
-Build social capital
-Increase racial integration
-Use architecture as a tool for social change
-Get government out of the business of public housing

Front 42

Gentrification

Back 42

PROCESS in which higher income homes displace lower income residents of a neighborhood, changing the essential character of that neighborhood.

Front 43

Rent Gap

Back 43

Gap between potential rent and existing rental rent. If significant, landowners often exploit gentrification.

Front 44

Types of Investors

Back 44

-Professional Developers; redevelope and sell for profit
-Occupier Developers; buy and redevelope in order to live in the community.
-Landlord Developers; redevelope in order to rent for a higher rental rate.

Front 45

Sprawl

Back 45

The spreading out of a city and its suburbs over more and more rural land at the periphery of an urban area.

Front 46

Environmental Justice

Back 46

The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work."[

Front 47

Broken Windows Theory

Back 47

The basic theory that stopping small crimes in a an area will prevent major crimes from happening.

Front 48

New Urbanism

Back 48

Development theory which attempts to reverse sprawl by developing neighborhoods to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs, and to be walkable.

Front 49

Redlining

Back 49

The practice of denying or increasing the cost of services such as banking, insurance, access to jobs,[2] access to health care,[3] or even supermarkets[4] to residents in certain often racially determined[5] areas.

Front 50

Concentration of Poverty

Back 50

The process of areas slowly becoming inhabited by residents in poverty.

Front 51

Principles of Environmental Design

Back 51

1. Interaction
2. Context
3. Power
4. Diversity
5. Contest

Front 52

Theories of Environment and Behavior

Back 52

Environmental Determinism and Possibilism

Front 53

When describing place...

Back 53

Place as Product
Place as a set of visual attributes
Place as process
Place as meaning

Front 54

Research Approaches

Back 54

Diagnostic
Descriptive
Theoretical
Action

Front 55

Research Settings

Back 55

Laboratory
Random/Natural

Front 56

Human Territories

Back 56

Primary
Secondary
Public

Front 57

Environmental Perception

Back 57

Use of senses: sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste.
Overload; cannot take in all senses at once, so select senses are used more than others

Front 58

How does gentrification happen?

Back 58

Rent Gaps
"Back to the City" movements
Uneven development