Annotated Bibliography III

Annotated Bibliography III

Environment Behavior Research

Professor:  Nora Rubinstein, Ph.D.

Graduate Candidate: Christopher Parrish

October 10th, 2011

Lang, J. T. (1987). Cognitive maps and spatial behavior. In Creating Architectural Theory: The Role of the Behavioral Sciences in Environmental Design (pp. 135-144). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Lang demonstrates that cognitive maps, or the perception and recollection of one’s environment (unconscious orientation system), are created through structured cognitive images consisting of paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks.  How these elements are arranged influences what he calls the “imageability” or “legibility” of a place or building.  By combining the Gestalt Laws of visual organization (the grouping of visual elements to create a unified whole) with the idea of “significant usage” (identification of a place or building by its major use or function), a set of design principles can be created to add legibility and distinguishability to the built environment.  It is important to note that different cultures focus on different aspects of cognitive structures and that having an understanding of these differences will enhance a designer’s ability to provide this “legibility” to created spaces. 

Lang illustrates that cognitive maps are formed in three ways: from the self (egocentric), by referencing fixed elements, and through abstract geometric patterns.  These “map’s” primary purpose is to direct people from their current position to a place where they can obtain something of value (goods, services, entertainment, food, etc.)   He references Stephen Kaplan (1973) who “suggests that people possess four types of knowledge: the recognition of where one is, the prediction of what may happen next, the evaluation of whether this is good or bad, and knowing what actions might be taken.”  These are important functions to acknowledge when designing for a population, especially those who may be infrequent visitors, since it provides a way of understanding how people will mentally process their built environments.  The built environment can respond to these processes and enhance the user’s perception and recognition of where they are and where they are going.

Places that possess “imageability” will appeal to the populations they serve in that they will be easy to understand and navigate; they will also be easily remembered.  A positive transactional experience will be created between the user and the environment.  This is important to Sustainability since places that appeal to people will be preserved and shared with future generations; they will have an inherent and intrinsic value beyond any monetary sense.  Also, by understanding how people use their environment, we can better understand the differences in their concern for it.

Vocabulary:

Schemata: A mental model of aspects of the world or of the self that is structure in such a way as to facilitate the processes of cognition and perception. A pattern imposed on complex reality or experience to assist in explaining it, mediate perception, or guide response.

Cognitive Mapping: The process whereby people acquire, code, store, recall, and decode information about the relative location and attributes of the physical environment.

Imageability: That quality of a physical object which gives it a high probability of evoking a strong image in any given observer.  It is the shape, color, or arrangement which facilitates the making of a vividly identified, powerfully structure, highly useful mental image of the environment.  It might also be call legibility.

Gestalt Theory: Specific brain processes that might account for the organization of perception; a psychology term which means "unified whole". It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s. These theories attempt to describe how people tend to organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied.

Method of Loci – Refers to a kind of “mental walk.” It is a method of memory enhancement which uses visualization to organize and recall information.

Owen, D. (2010, 25 January). The Dime store floor. The New Yorker, pp. 33-37

Owen describes a nostalgic journey of smells that he and his sister embark upon during a trip to Kansas City.  They discover that some things smell just as they had thirty years ago and some have changed and become lost to time.  A place that they had frequented as youth no longer contained familiar smells after it had been remodeled.  The author noted that it was even hard to remember those smells now that he knew they had perished with the new construction.  He stated “…as though my knowledge of its extinction at its source had soured it from my memory.”

Smell is strongly linked to memory and the act of smelling can mentally transport one back to a specific time and place quite easily.  Owen refers to the smell of different grooming products from his youth and the impact they had on his psyche; the fragrance of a woman’s shampoo made him sexually aroused while the smell of Old Spice deodorant reminded him of his father driving him to school.  The author noted how experiences that were once linked to smell can evolve into other senses as well.  He recalled how in the nineteen-sixties autumn smelled like burning leaves in the suburbs and now, to him, it is associated with the sound of leaf blowers due to fire ordinances and new technology.

The sense of smell is often overlooked in the built environment; it is assumed that people do not want unpleasant odors but it is difficult to anticipate what is considered pleasant or favorable smelling to people when there is such a plethora of cultural backgrounds, experiences, and histories to consider.  Owen realized later in life that the “bouquet of a freshly ironed shirt was, in fact, the smell of stale cigarette smoke.”  A fragrance he had experienced in his youth had evolved into an odor as an adult.  Many management companies of large casinos in Las Vegas, NV have decided to “pump in” a uniform fragrance (or some may say odor) to their public spaces.  This is in large part to cover up the smell of cigarette smoke, which is still legal in Las Vegas, but it is also probably an attempt to associate place with an identity; when guests of the casino leave and several months later encounter that smell again it may trigger a memory of their trip.  It may even get them to plan another trip back to the casino.  This illustrates the importance that our sense of smell has to the built environment.  Spaces that are planned considering smell and its linkage to memory will be more successful in their purpose and more responsive to their users.

Bull, M., & Back, L. (2003). Introduction: Into sound. In M. Bull & L. Back (Eds.), The Auditory Culture Reader (pp. 1-18). Oxford; New York: Berg; Sensory Formations Series.

The authors are setting up the thesis of their book during this introduction chapter where they are trying to make their case regarding the importance of sound and hearing.  They speak of the dominance of the eye and “claim that a visually based epistemology is both insufficient and often erroneous in its description, analysis and thus understanding of the social world.” There is a push in the writing for the need of “deep listening” which has the benefits of enhanced relational and social experiences with our communities, places we inhabit, and with power.   The multi-directionality of sound creates a different relationship between people and place than that of sight.  Sight seeks to control but sound can be uncontrollable; one can shut their eyes to avoid unwanted views but a deafening roar of sound cannot be shut out.  Sound rolls over and through the body and literally resonates within us.

Sound has both positive and negative qualities; one man’s music is another man’s noise.  Today’s technology allows people to control their sound experience in individual microcosms such as homes, cars, or personal electronics (iPods, MP3 players).  The authors refer to this as “narcissus-like” behavior where people are using sound as a “social deafness” in an attempt to manage their “personal sonic universe.” This attempt on control is converting public space into private space; people can have their own personal experience even within a crowded public park by tuning out the actual environmental sounds and tuning into their iPod.  With auditory senses being personally controlled, how does the built environment respond and pull people out of these sound bubbles?  Sustainable built environments must figure out how to tune people back in; they must be engaging in all senses.  As the authors have referenced, there exists a need for “a democracy of the senses” (Berendt 1985) where the visual is not the only player but part of a team.  Built spaces that are ignored by their users will not be enduring; users that are engaged and “resonate” within their environment will seek to maintain, preserver, and cherish them.
 Vocabulary: 

Epistemology: Is a branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. 

Social Deafness: When individuals become lost in their own personal sonic universe. 

Sonic Bridge: The way in which music links the insides and outsides of social experience into a seamless web.

Tonkiss, F. (2003). Aural postcards: Sound, memory and the city. In M. Bull & L. Back (Eds.), The Auditory Culture Reader (pp. 303-309). Oxford; New York: Berg; Sensory Formations Series.

In this chapter, Tonkiss explores the presence and absence of sounds in the city.  Noted is the statement that “… the modern city, for all that there is to see, is not only spectacular: it is sonic.” Many of us are quite familiar with the robust omnipresent sounds of the city but it is very interesting to take note of the absence of sound or even the diminishment of it.  Through this sonic exploration, Tonkiss demonstrates how silent or quiet pockets of the city are “precarious”; as if they are hanging onto the moment before an event, “silence that is always about to be broken.” Even in the silence, auditory senses are telling us something about place; they are sending messages about the future where the silence will be broken and the pocket will have moved to settle somewhere else in the metropolis.  No longer here but there.

Similar to Owen’s (2010) article about smell, Tonkiss links sound to memory.  The ringing of church bells, the call of a distant boat in the harbor, and the screeching of taxi cab breaks outside your window are all sounds that conjure up memories about place and time; they inform people of where they were, where they are, and where they are going.  Without this dimensionality of sound the world would “feel” flat, like a silent movie; the sounds create a palpable atmosphere, almost touchable.  This sound and lack of sound inform the listener of the built environment, sending cues about what to expect.  If a place is noisy or quiet, if it is sonically frenetic or relaxing, all of these auditory clues indicate to users the intended purpose of the space they are occupying.  This is important to sustainability in that perception of “fit” will determine whether buildings and places are meeting the needs of both current and successive generations.  Sound qualities that “fit” an environment will make it livable, enjoyable, and worth preserving.

Carpman, J., & Grant, M. A. (2002). Wayfinding: A Broad view. In Handbook of Environmental Psychology. Sage.

Wayfinding is more than just signage; it is the collection of information that is perceived from an individual through architecture, design, graphics, landmarks, and services that inform users of how to get to a destination and then back again.  The authors point out several strong reasons to enhance the wayfinding abilities of a place or facility for the users, staff, and administrators that focuses on economic benefits.  They postulate that if users are not frustrated and/or stressed by being lost or wasting time that they will have a more favorable review of the facility and wish to return; that informed staff can easily navigate their way around a large facility thereby being more productive and more confident in appearing competent to quests; and that administrators will have an easier task in caring for users, the marketing of facilities and services, and the reduction in problems associated with the disorientation of customers.

The authors draw on Weisman (1982) to outline four wayfinding strategies employed by people: 1. Seeing one’s destination and moving steadily towards it, 2. Following a path that leads to a destination, 3. Using environmental elements (signs/landmarks) to provide information, and 4. Forming and using a cognitive map of the environment. To assist and enhance these abilities Carpman and Grant suggest several design elements to consider: facility layout, architectural and interior design differentiation, landmarks (both interior and exterior), and signage.

Obstacles in both behavior and the design of the built environment can create disorientation in people.  One major behavioral issue to contend with is a person’s sense of direction.  Some people do not have a strong sense of their physical location and how to get from point A to point B.  The authors have suggested some solutions to counteract this behavioral issue such as valet parking, previsit information sessions, and escorts to lead people to their destinations and back again.  Design issues that can be problematic are the lack of emphasis placed on wayfinding and asthetic decisions that trump signage.

A cookie-cutter style list of solutions for adequately providing wayfinding to the built environment is not provided; instead, the authors insist that each individual project must be based on “research, observation, and experience.”  Built environments that are Sustainable posses qualities that make them worth maintaining and keeping; these places need to be economically viable as well as pleasurable to live, work, and entertain in.  Buildings and places where wayfinding is an essential consideration to the design will provide a supportive environment that is truly sustainable.