Community Environmental Psychology

Is a psychological concept? Not every physical or legal area is a

neighborhood. One psychological dimension of neighborhoods

is their spatial-cognitive nature

Neighborhood has boundaries Within these boundaries, neighborhood◦ may be urban/suburban;◦ may contain industrial, commercial, and/or residential

development; ◦ may have underdeveloped areas and/or developed

parks; ◦ may be old or new, graced with quiet tree-lined

streets or split by major roads;◦ May include varying percentages of high-rise, low-rise,

and single-family as residences.

Downtown vs. suburban ◦ Downtown neighborhoods contain more mixed land

uses, traffic and parking problems, noise, crowding, stress, danger, pavement, and mess. e.g, Chow Kit, Pudu

The integral neighborhood The parochial neighborhood The anomic neighborhood

has much face-to-face interaction much cohesiveness from neighborhood

support of local interest and values, and much participation in organizations outside

the neighborhood.

is like the integral neighborhood except that it has fewer ties to outside organizations

it is inwardly facing and may even discourage participation in the wider community.

has little face-to-face contact, little identification and few ties to the

outside world.

Satisfaction is related to neighborhood confidence◦which is positively related to staying instead of

moving◦a greater social cohesion among residents.

Satisfaction can be measured by asking about to what extent of positive social relations, clear and symbolic interaction, and strong attachment in the neighborhood.

Neighborhood satisfaction is composed of residents’ satisfaction with the neighborhoods’ physical conditions, political climate, convenience (e.g., access to schools, work, and shopping), and social relations

Personal influences Physical influences Social and Security influences Cultural influences

Beliefs of the improvement of their current neighborhood

A higher interest level for their neighborhood They feel at home Adaptation to the level of neighborhood Ownership or renting Stage of life.

Is it noisy, expensive, downtown, split by major transportation routes, smoggy?

Other key factors ◦ visual quality◦ Aesthetics◦ Green space

Social network can create satisfaction. Safety fears, e.g:

◦parental concerns about possible traffic accidents involving children

◦widespread fear of crime (theft, rape, drug abuse, illegal activities such as gambling and prostitution). Adakah anda lebih suka membeli rumah di sekitar

Chow Kit atau Taman Universiti?

a congruence between residents’ culture the era with which they identify the physical form of the community

Place Identity and Place Attachment◦ refers to an individual’s incorporation of place into the

larger concept of self. ◦ We develop special bonds with certain settings that

have deep meaning for us

Genealogy link persons with places through the historical identification of a place with a family.

Loss and destruction sometimes build

or strengthen place attachment. Ownership Cosmological place attachment refers to a

culture’s religious and mythological views on person-place attachment.

We may attached to a place where we make a pilgrimage

Narrative: place attachment can develop through stories

Have higher rates of mental illness: schizophrenics

William Rohe – model of connection between community design and mental health. ◦Physical stressors: high density, through streets, poor upkeep of public places, a lack of community meeting places, and high-rise residences.

Anti-social Behaviour:◦Community Design – Crime and vandalism

are linked to or facilitated by certain aspects of the physical nature of a community

More residential, with few thru’ streets & little public parking

To reduce passage by strangers through an area Have less street signs indicate a residential area with

more control by residents Shorter apartments & less units per floor/total units so

that residents know one another & who lives in the building

Close some of the entrances to the neighborhood, install speed bumps to slow down traffic, install gates with the neighborhood logo, divide the community into mini-neighborhoods with physical barriers

Install lights in the darker areas near the main corners Have defensible space characteristics/ design Increases visual surveillability of a building, esp for bank Diversity increases public social interaction among

residents, which thereby helps discourage crime

High temperatures /heat discomfort causes riots and other social aggression and violence

Bad odors negatively affect mood and attraction to others.

A moderately bad odor was found to have facilitated aggression.

Higher levels of photochemical oxidants in the air were correlated with more domestic disputes and more instances of psychiatric disturbance

Weather◦We help when the weather is nice (?!)

Noise◦Loud noise reduces helping behaviours

Number of People ◦Number of bystanders and prosocial behaviors

Community Design and the Immediate Surroundings ◦Women helped more in the complex settings and

men helped more in the simple settings Women are more likely than men to becooperative

and helpful when the population density is high Blind person was helped significantly more

Watching – by three modes◦Responsive mode

We look in a receptive, passive manner and see people and things as a sensory experience, almost as a form of entertainment or recreation

◦Operational Mode We look in a problem-solving way We look around with purpose – look for signs and familiar

landmarks

◦Inferential Mode We look at the community as a medium of communication. We look for social messages and make our inferences of

the objects different from others. We see an empty lot, the developer sees a building site

Walking ◦ Walking Velocity: V = .86 log P + .05, where V

is velocity in feet per second and P is the population of the community.

◦ However, pedestrian velocities was found to be reliably vary from the overall average under certain conditions.

◦ Making decision: When people walk, they also make many

decisions, most of which are hardly conscious E.g., when and where to cross the street.

Hanging Out ◦Often occurs in the fourth environment (anywhere

except home, playgrounds, other places meant for kids.)

◦Homeless and poor people also hang out on the streets

Familiar Strangers ◦e.g., commuters, pedestrians, shoppers,

passengers. ◦Familiar strangers could lead us to help them in

emergency because we know them for years

Retail environment ◦Shopping is an essential human activity.

◦ It has the following functions: social, recreational, and utilitarian

Location, Size, and Attractiveness ◦ Most shoppers choose the closest store that stocks what they want to buy. In

general, they will select the largest store.◦ Gravitation Model If all other factors are equal, consumers gravitate to

larger stores and to closer stores. ◦ Attractiveness of the product

Layout spatial layout of supermarket ◦ Be more sensitive to the social needs of shoppers

Emotional Impact ◦ Store-induced pleasure and arousal

Density◦ Crowding in the shopping environment is another physical setting influence on

consumer behavior Display

◦ Purchasing is affected by how goods are displayed. Shelf-height, end-aisle placement, and location within the store may affect normal buying and impulsive buying

Music ◦ Slow music encourages shoppers to stay longer and to shop more goods

Renovations to reduce fear of crime and actual crime:◦assigned as much public space to the control of

specific families, using both substantial and symbolic fencing

◦reduced the number of pedestrian routes through project and improved lighting along the paths

◦improved the project’s image and encouraged a sense of personal ownership by resurfacing the dwellings, giving different colors to individual dwellings

Plazas become more useful as the number of amenities rise Features of successful plazas:

◦ sittable space,◦ water (fountains and pools), ◦ food stands, accessible food outlets◦ trees, ◦ activities to watch (jugglers, mimes, and buskers)◦ sitting with sunny orientation (or a shady orientation in hot

cities), ◦ provide shelter from wind, ◦ located on busy streets rather than hidden away

Sidney Brower’s guidelines:

1. Keep the street front alive 2. Give residents things to do and places to be 3. Reduce the speed and number of cars 4. Residences should open to street, not from some central courtyard 5. Make parks more attractive to adults 6. Distinguish between home-based recreation and

park activities