Advances in Environment, Behavior, and Design

VOLUME 3

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Irwin Altman, Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah Gilles Barbey, Architecte EPFZ, Lausanne, Switzerland Robert B. Bechtel, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona,

Tucson, Arizona Michael Brill, Buffalo Organization for Social and Technological

Innovation, Inc., Buffalo, New York Gary W. Evans, Program in Social Ecology, University of California,

Irvine, California Mark Francis, Department of Environmental Design, University of

California, Davis, California Tommy Garling, Department of Psychology, University of Umeli, Umeli, Sweden Linda N. Groat, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of

Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan Stephen Kaplan, Psychological Laboratories, University of Michigan,

Ann Arbor, Michigan M. Powell Lawton, Philadelphia Geriatric Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Setha M. Low (EDRA Board Representative), Graduate School and

University Center, City University of New York, New York, New York

William Michelson, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Rudolf H. Moos, Social Ecology Laboratory, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California

George L. Peterson, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, U.S. Forest Service, Ft. Collins, Colorado

Toomas Niit, Department of Sociology, Institute of Philosophy, Sociology, and Law, Tallinn, Estonian S.S.R.

J. Douglas Porteous, Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Amos Rapoport, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Andrew D. Seidel, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

Maija-Leena Setala, Tamere Regional Institute of Occupational Health, T ampere, Finland

Daniel Stokols, Program in Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, California

Takashi Takahashi, Department of Architecture, Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan

Ross Thome, Department of Architecture, Sydney University, Sydney, Australia

Seymour Wapner, Heinz Werner Institute for Developmental Analysis, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts

John Zeisel, Building Diagnostics, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts

A Conhnuation Order Plan IS available for tlus senes A contInuatIon order WIll bnng delIvery of each new volume Immediately upon publication. Volumes are bIlled only upon actual shIpment For further mformatIon please contact the publisher.

Advances in Environment, Behavior, and Design

VOLUME 3

Edited by

ERVIN H. ZUBE School of Renewable Natural Resources

University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona

and

GARY T. MOORE School of Architecture and Urban Planning

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Published in cooperation with the Environmental Design Research Association

PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 88-649861

ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-5816-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-5814-5 DOL 10.1007/978-1-4684-5814-5

© 1991 Plenum Press, New York Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1991 A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopymg, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher

D

Contribu tors

Franklin Becker, Department of Design and Environmental Analysis, College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853

Louise Chawla, Whitney Young College, Kentucky State University, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601

Carole Despres, School of Architecture, Laval University, Quebec G1K 7P4, Canada

Jay Farbstein, Jay Farbstein & Associates, Inc., 1411 Marsh Street, Suite 204, San Luis Obispo, California 93401

Linda N. Groat, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Univer­sity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

Thomas C. Hubka, Department of Architecture, University of Wiscon­sin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201

Min Kantrowitz, Min Kantrowitz & Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 792, Al­buquerque, New Mexico 87103

David Kernohan, School of Architecture, Victoria University of Welling­ton, Wellington, New Zealand

Martin Krampen, University of the Arts Berlin, Federal Republic of Ger­many; Am Hochstrasse 18, 0-7900 Ulm-Donau, Federal Republic of Germany

v

vi Contributors

Sonia Kruks, Department of Government, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio 44074

Jon Lang, School of Architecture, University of New South Wales, Ken­sington, N.S.W., Australia

David Stea, International Center for Built Environment, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87131. Present address: Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico D.F., Mexico

Martin S. Symes, Department of Architecture, University of Man­chester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom

Ben Wisner, School of Social Science, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002

D

Preface

This third volume in Advances in Environment, Behavior, and Design fol­lows the conceptual framework adopted in the previous two volumes (see the Preface to Volume 1, 1987). It is organized into five sections­advances in theory, advances in place, user group, and sociobehavioral research, and advances in research utilization.

The authors of this volume represent a wide spectrum of the multi­disciplinary environment-behavior and design field including architec­ture, environmental psychology, facility management, geography, human factors, sociology, and urban design. The volume offers interna­tional perspectives from North America (Carole Despres from Canada, several authors from the U.S.), Europe (Martin Krampen from Germany, Martin Symes from England), and New Zealand (David Kernohan). More so than any of the previous volumes, they are drawn from both academia and professional practice.

While there continues to be a continuity in format in the series, we are actively exploring new directions that are on the cutting edges of the field and bode well for a more integrated future. This volume will fur­ther develop the themes of design and professional practice to comple­ment the earlier emphases on theory, research, and methods.

We have invited leading scholars on design theory to present critical chapters on the comparison and possible integration of explanatory en­vironment-behavior theories and prescriptive design theories. Ad­vances in environment-behavior theory will continue to be a strong focus of this series-but in this volume we are expanding theory to the realm of design theory and the possible integration of environment­behavior and design theory.

Since the mid-1980s, we have convened sessions on theory at the annual conferences of EDRA, the Environmental Design Research Asso­ciation (Atlanta, 1986, Ottawa, 1987), and the biennial conferences of

vii

viii Preface

lAPS, the International Association for the Study of People and their Physical Environments (Haifa, 1986, Delft, 1988). A selection of these papers has been edited and expanded into chapters appearing in this series. In Volume 1, we dealt with a pair of theories diametrically op­posed to each other that have led to major debates in the environment­behavior field-empiricism and phenomenology (Volume 1, chapters by Richard Winett and David Seamon). We then moved to two theories that begin to make a bridge between academic research and environmental problem solving-ecological and structural theories (Volume 2, chapters by Gerhard Kaminski and Roderick Lawrence). Now, in Volume 3, we have invited two chapters that explicitly investigate the possible integra­tion of science and design, discipline and profession, and research and practice (chapters by Linda Groat and Carole Despres, and Jon Lang).

Fields advance by research focused on the development of theories and by investigations exploring basic conceptual issues. In the multi­disciplinary environment-behavior and design field, calls have been made since the early 1970s for the development of theory. In 1973, Amos Rapoport argued for the development of explanatory theory and sug­gested five reasons why theory was needed: to make sense of findings, to reveal gaps, to lead from description to explanation, to aid in teach­ing, and to aid in application.

According to a source that seldom does us wrong, the Oxford English Dictionary, theory is a "scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an explanation or account of a group of facts or phenomena; a hypoth­esis that has been confirmed or established by observation or experi­ment, and is propounded or accepted as accounting for the known facts; a statement of what are held to be general laws, principles, or causes of something known or observed." A theory, then, is a set of interrelated concepts held as an explanation for observable phenomena by recourse to unobserved, more abstract principles.

This is the way in which most people have been using the word "theory" in the past 15 or so years of the environmental psycholo­gy/environment-behavior field. (See, for example, the work of Irwin Altman [Altman & Rogoff, 1987], Amos Rapoport [1973], and Daniel Stokols [1983].)

It may serve us well to use an adjective before this noun "theory." Thus theory as used in science, by the above authors, and so far in this series is scientific theory or explanatory theory.

But how about design theories? How do we conceptualize them? Are they also theories? How about the writings of major thinkers in architecture and the other environmental professions like Vitruvius, architect to Caesar Augustus two thousand years ago, who argued that good architecture had three conditions: utilitas, finnitas, and venustas, or,

Preface ix

as we now know them, commodity (function), firmness (technics), and delight (aesthetics)? How about the more recent theories of architecture, like the theory of complexity and contradiction in a book by the same title by Robert Venturi (1966)? How do we conceptualize the writings of Juan-Pablo Bonta (1979) in Architecture and Its Interpretation based on structuralism, or of Christian Norberg-Schultz (1980) in Genius Loci: To­ward a Phenomenology of Architecture based on phenomenology, or of Ge­offrey Broadbent (1973) in Design in Architecture or Christopher Jencks (1977) in The Language of Post-Modern architecture based on the analytic procedures of semiotics? Architectural scholars have always called these "theories," but in what way are they theories? Are they akin to the theories of science, or do they not deserve the term "theory"?

A second type of theory, also covered by the Oxford, may lead us out of this apparent dilemma. Theory, it suggests, is also a "conception or mental scheme of something to be done, or of the method of doing it; a systematic statement of rules or principles to be followed." Theory in this second sense can be conceived of as a doctrine or ideology, a pro­grammatic idea of how things should be done, almost a manifesto.

In 1984, as a result of a symposium on the topic of doctoral educa­tion for architectural research (Moore & Templer, 1984), Peter McCleary proposed a view of "theory" as used in his teachings. Drawn from Bacon's 1626 distinction between theory and practice, between the spec­ulative and the practical, this view emphasizes that theory can be con­ceived of as a scheme of ideas that explains practice.

Again, we need an objective to modify "theory." We would agree with our late colleague, Kevin Lynch (his discussion of three normative theories in Good City Form [1981]), Jon Lang (in his book on Creating Architectural Theory [1987]), and McCleary, that we call this second type of theory normative theory or prescriptive theory or, in the more limited case, design theories. Design theories, then, are a scheme of ideas or con­cepts that relate to observable phenomena and serve, in some way as yet undefined, to "explain" them; but they also serve to define that which is proposed or that which should be done through a program of design action or practice.

To examine these ideas further, we invited Linda Groat and Carole Despres to discuss the significance of architectural theory for environ­ment-behavior research, and Jon Lang to explore design theory from an environment-behavior perspective. While there are many points of con­vergence between these two chapters, the Groat-Despres chapter places more emphasis on physical form variables while the Lang chapter takes a more behavioral orientation. Both chapters-individually and as a pair-represent significant new advances to the field.

As in the earlier volumes in the series, we invited another leading

x Preface

scholar, Martin Symes of the University of Manchester, to comment on these two chapters by surveying the relationships between research and design.

The middle part of the volume examines place, user group, and sociobehavioral research topics which have experienced recent empirical developments but which have not yet been covered in the Advances series.

Chapters that address place-oriented research in Volumes 1 and 2 of this series varied in context from urban to rural and in scale from sites to regions. They include site-scale environments such as urban plazas, parks, and malls (Mark Francis, Volume 1) and a variation on the theme of urban parks-urban forests (Herbert Schroeder, Volume 2), to region­al scales such as rural areas (Frederick Buttel et aI., Volume 1), vernacular landscapes (Robert Riley, Volume 2), and developing countries (Graeme Hardie, Volume 2). .

The place-oriented research included in this volume fits into the site end of the scale continuum and addresses individual buildings and spaces within buildings. Thomas Hubka provides a new perspective on vernacular architecture, one that expands the scope of the field and that is a companion to Robert Riley's chapter in Volume 2 on vernacular landscapes. Franklin Becker provides a historical review of environment and behavior research in the workplace and discusses key behavioral and spatial issues in the design of facilitative workplaces.

User group chapters in previous volumes have tended to emphasize urban or built environment contexts whether they addressed gender issues (Rebecca Peterson, Volume 1), social groups (William Michelson, Volume 1), or health-care providers in hospitals (Sally Shumaker and Will Pequegnat, Volume 2). Louise Chawla's chapter in this volume fol­lows that same pattern and focuses on children and housing-specifical­lyon policy, planning, and design for housing that recognizes the diver­sity of family structures within which children now live within the ur­ban context.

Martin Krampen expands on part of the theme of environmental cognition and meaning begun by Tommy Garling and Reginald Golledge in Volume 2. Initially we had hoped for one chapter that would deal with the entire gamut from perception to meaning, from association to sym­bolism. But the task was too large. The Garling-Golledge chapter treat­ed the associational end of the continuum, while Martin Krampen now looks in some detail at three distinctly different traditions for the study of environmental meaning-semiotics, environmental psychology, and ecological psychology. This chapter ought to stimulate much debate and discussion in the field. It merits a follow-up in a subsequent volume in

Preface xi

this series, not as a rebuttal, but rather a chapter that might look at the two other major approaches to environmental meaning-the nonverbal communication and the historical-symbolic approaches-and might fur­ther develop some of the issues Krampen addresses. To date, one of those issues, Gibson's work on perception, has had only a small impact on the field. We have commissioned a chapter for Volume 4 devoted to the Gibsonian intellectual tradition and its current and potential impacts on our field, not only in terms of meaning but also the more concrete aspects of environmental perception and environmental design.

Considerable attention has been given in the first two volumes of the series to advances in methods for conducting research and utilizing it in environmental problem-solving applications (e.g., chapters on quantitative research methods by Robert Marans and Sherry Ahrentzen and on qualitative methods by Setha Low in Volume 1, on facility pro­gramming by Henry Sanoff and postoccupancy evaluation by Richard Wener in Volume 2, and on professional practice by Lynda Schneekloth in Volume 1 and policy development by Francis Ventre in Volume 2). We continue this tradition with two new chapters on research utilization methods in the current volume.

Lynda Schnee kloth's chapter in Volume 1 sets the stage for the two current chapters. She made the distinction between information transfer and action research. In a recent dissertation, Min Byung-Ho (1988) ex­tended this distinction philosophically and through case studies to two more general types: a one-community paradigm based on the notion that research and action necessarily go hand-in-hand, and a two-com­munity paradigm based on the notion that research must be indepen­dent from and precede action. The two-community approach has the longer and more recognized history in the field of environment and behavior (e.g., the many books of facility programming and postoccu­pancy evaluation and the series of annual design research awards pre­miated by Progressive Architecture). But the one-community approach is on the ascendancy and is subject to lively debate. We continue to explore its development in the series.

Participatory and action research methods are examined in depth by Ben Wisner, David Stea, and Sonia Kruks. They refer extensively to five detailed case studies in which they have been involved in development contexts, mostly in the Third World. The possible emergence of a new design-decision research paradigm for the field is scrutinized by two leading practitioners, Jay Farbstein and Min Kantrowitz, both principles of major professional firms. The Wisner-Stea-Kruks chapter places em­phasis on facilitating participation as a primary goal, whereas the Farbs­tein-Kantrowitz chapter places emphasis on decision making, even

xii Preface

though both chapters are written about a kind of one-community action research. The distinction between participation and decision making may be related to the fact that the former chapter is based on experiences in developing contexts, while the latter is in a developed country.

To round out this section, we invited David Kernohan from New Zealand to comment on emerging research utilization/professional prac­tice methods. He draws a brilliant analogy between environment-be­havior research and Einstein's theory in discussing these two chapters and putting them into a larger, more inclusive context.

In the preparation of this volume, we were once again assisted by many people. We would like to thank Ernest Alexander, Friederich Di­eckmann, and the students of Theories of Environment and Behavior at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who offered valuable comments on chapter drafts; our Editorial Advisory Board, who offered advice on the series as whole; Michele Lien, who served as editorial assistant for Volume 3; and Eliot Werner, our executive editor at Plenum Press.

REFERENCES

ERVIN H. ZUBE

GARY T. MOORE

Altman, I. (1973). Some perspectives on the study of man-environment phenomena. Representative Research In Social Psychology, 4, 109-186.

Bonta, J. P. (1979). Architecture and its interpretation: A study of expressIOn systems In architec-ture. London: Lund Humphries.

Broadbent, G. (1973). DeSign In architecture: Architecture and human science. New York: Wiley. Jencks, C. (1977). The language of post-modern architecture. New York: Rizzoli. Lang, J. (1987). Creating architectural theory. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Lynch, K. (1981). Good city form. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Min, B.-H. (1988). Research utilzzation in environment-behavior studies: A case study analysis of

the interactIOn of utilization models, context, and success. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.) Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms.

Moore, G. T., & Templer, J. (Eds.). (1984). Doctoral education for architectural research. Wash­ington, DC: Architectural Research Centers Consortium.

Norberg-Schultz, C. (1980). Genius loci: Towards a phenomenology of architecture. New York: Rizzoli. •

Rapoport, A. (1973). An approach to the construction of man-environment theory. In W. F. E. Preiser (Ed.), Environmental design research (Vol. 2). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Stokols, D. (Ed.) (1983). Theories of environment and behavior. Special issue of EnViron­ment and Behavzor, 15 (Whole No.3).

Venturi, R. (1966). Complexity and contradiction In architecture. New York: Museum of Mod­em Art.

Preface xiii

POSTSCRIPT

Effective with this volume, Ervin Zube has resigned as coeditor of the series to devote more time to his research on human landscape transactions and landscape management. Erv and I initiated the idea for the series in late 1983 in discussions with Eliot Werner at Plenum and with the Board of Directors of EDRA (notably Daniel Stokols who sug­gested the link with Plenum). We have worked together on all aspects of the series since then. Erv's contributions to the series and to the field are immeasurable. His wisdom, guidance, and hard work over the first five years of the Advances series will be sorely missed. Fortunately, he has agreed to remain as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board.

Professor Zube will be replaced, starting with Volume 4, by Robert W. Marans, Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, Director of the Ph.D. Program in Urban Technological and Environmental Plan­ning, and Senior Research Scientist at the Institute of Social Research, University of Michigan. I am delighted to work with Bob Marans on the continuation of the series.

To gain a broader base of advice from North American and Euro­pean environment-behavior studies, from design and practice, and from the international community, we also welcome Gilles Barbey, Robert Bechtel, Tommy Garling, Linda Groat, Stephen Kaplan, Setha Low, William Michelson, Rudolf Moos, Toomas Niit, Amos Rapoport, Andrew Seidel, Maija-Leena Setala, Seymour Wapner, and John Zeisel to the Editorial Advisory Board.

Work is progressing well on Volume 4 of the series. Volume 4 will again contain chapters on advances in the domains of the field that have experienced the most rapid development over the intervening years. In preparation are new chapters on urban social theory, Gibsonian ecologi­cal theory and cross-cultural theory, environmental aesthetics and the sick-building syndrome, new methodological developments, and re­search utilization with special attention to housing and facilities for people with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

GARY T. MOORE

1

D

Contents

I ADVANCES IN THEORY

The Significance of Architectural Theory for Environmental Design Research

Linda N. Groat and Carole Despres

3

Getting Physical: The Need to Identify Formal Attributes 4 The Nature of Theory in Architecture and Its Links to Scientific

Epistemology: An Historical Perspective 6 The Renaissance-Baroque Tradition 8 The Premodern Tradition 12 The Modern Movement 16 Postmodernism 21

The Relation between Environment-Behavior Research and Architectural Theory: Rapprochement or Disjuncture? 26

Toward a Reconsideration of the Domain of Theory in Environment-Behavior and Design Research 30

The Major Themes of Architectural Theory 30 Style 33 Composition 36 Type 39 Morphology 43 Place 44

Implications for Future Research and Applications 46 References 48

xv

xvi Contents

2 Design Theory from an Environment and Behavior Perspective

Jon Lang

53

Understanding the Design Fields: Three Clarifications 54 The Design Fields as Art and as Environmental

D~~ ~ The Design Fields as Professions and as Disciplines 56 The Meaning of Theory 56

The Modern Movement as Art and as Environmental Design 60 The First Generation: The Anglo-Americans and the

Continentals 60 The Second Generation: The Rediscovery of Architectural

Symbolism 65 The Third Generation: Working a Function into a Form 67

The Positive Basis of Normative Modern Design Theory 67 The Design Fields as Art 70 The Design Fields as Environmental Design 71

Environment-Behavior Studies and Modernist Theory: A Commentary 76

Substantive Theory 77 Procedural Theory 78 Modernist Theory in Perspective 79

Our Contemporary Design Theories 79 Postmodernism, Deconstructivism, and Classicism:

Architecture as Art 80 Community Architecture: Architecture as Environmental

D~g~ ~ The Emergence of Landscape Architecture as Environmental

Design and as Art 87 The Mainstream of Current Architectural Thought:

Modernism 89 The Modernists Almost Got It Right 90 Implications for Future Research and Applications 91

Integrating Art, Environmental Design, and Science: A Normative Theory 92

The Role of Environment-Behavior Research: Building the Design Disciplines 96

References 98

Contents xvii

3 Relationships between Research and Design: 103 A Commentary on Theories

Martin S. Symes

The Case for Integration History Misunderstandings Useful Knowledge

104 105 106 107 108 108 109 110

The Case for Diversity Unpredictable Synthesis Variety of Paradigms

References

II ADVANCES IN PLACE RESEARCH

4 Workplace Planning, Design, and Management 115

Franklin Becker

Historical Overview 116 1910-1940: Efficiency and Individual Performance 116 1940-1950: Task Performance and Social Relations 117 1950-1960: Group Dynamics, Communication, and Conflict 117 1960-1970: Focus on the Nonpaying Client 118 1970-1980: Communication, Worker Comfort, and Satisfaction 120 The Performance Profile Concept 121 Summary of Historical Overview 122

Facility Management 123 Defining the Field 123 Key Organizational Trends 123

Five Key Workplace Issues 124 Control 124 Communication 127 Environmental Change Processes 131 Performance 133 International Influences 135

xviii Contents

Theory into Practice 137 140 141 145 146 147

Process: Employee Involvement Product: Design Concepts and Solutions

The Acceptability Factor and the Enculturation Process Implications for Future Research and Applications References

5 American Vernacular Architecture 153

Thomas C. Hubka

Defining Vernacular Architecture 153 Vernacular and Elite 157 Vernacular Past and Present 161

Ideology: The Hidden Agenda 164 Silent Artifacts and Common People: The "New History" 165 Vernacular Exceptionalism: The New Romanticism 166

Paradigms: The Acknowledged Agenda 167 Artifact and Meaning: What It Is and What It Means 167 Building Dominance and Theory Subordinance:

Artifact Positivism 169 Pluralism of Content, Theory, and Method: A Populist Strategy 170 Pattern in Building: Variations on a Theme 171

Implications for Future Research and Applications 174 Functional Categories: Organizing the Field 174 Demographics: Numbers Count 175 Popular Architecture: Between Elite and Vernacular 177

Conclusion 181 References 181

III ADVANCES IN USER GROUP RESEARCH

6 Homes for Children in a Changing Society

Louise Chawla

Methodological Issues in Child-Environment Research The Home Interior

Stimulus Levels in the Home

187

188 190 191

Contents xix

Housing Design The Meaning of Home

Access to the Outdoors: Transitional Spaces Access to Diverse Spaces

192 200 206 207 214 215 217 219 220 221 222 224

Outdoor Access from High-Rise Housing Outdoor Access for Latchkey Children

Children's Participation in Design Implications for Future Research and Applications

Research Integration New Research Directions Research Dissemination

References

IV ADVANCES IN SOCIOBEHAVIORAL RESEARCH

7 Environmental Meaning 231

Martin Krampen

Two Approaches to the Study of Environmental Meaning 231 The Origins of the Semiotic Approach to Research on

Environmental Meaning 223 Environmental Meaning in Semiotics 234

The Contribution of Greimas 238 Settlement Space 240 Urban Culture 243 Architectural Semiotics 244 Conclusions on the Semiotic Approach 246

The Origins of Environmental Psychology and Its Research on Environmental Meaning 246

Environmental Meaning in Environmental Psychology 247 Environmental Cognition 248 The Organismic-Developmental Perspective 250 A Microtheory of Environmental Meaning 250 Conclusions on the Environmental Psychology Approach 256

Outlook on the Future: Environmental Meaning in an Ecological Perspective 256

An Ecological Approach to Meaning: The Theory of Affordances 257

xx Contents

Some Affordances Which Are Independent of Surface Layout 259 The Meaning of Surfaces and Their Layouts 259 Conclusions on the Ecological Approach 261

Implications for Future Research and Applications 261 References 262

V ADVANCES IN RESEARCH UTILIZATION

8 Participatory and Action Research Methods 271

Ben Wisner, David Stea, and Sonia Kruks

Action and Participation 271 Action Research: Origins and Preliminary Definition 271 Participation and Participatory Research 274

Frameworks for Participation 275 A Social Framework 275 A Communication Framework 279

Case Studies 281 Case I: Cas alta II-Reconstruction following a Landslide 281 Case II: Locally Improved Grain Storage in a Tanzanian Village 282 Case III: Elderly Housing and a Community Center for the

Texas Farm Workers' Union 285 Case IV: Planning Primary Health Care in Western Kenya 286 Case V: Community Land-Use Management in Ecuador 288

Implications for Future Research and Applications 289 References 290

9 Design Research in the Swamp: 297 Toward a New Paradigm

Jay Farbstein and Min Kantrowitz

Design-Decision Research 298 How is Design-Decision Research Different from Action

Research? 301 What Is Design-Decision Research? 302 Who Does Design-Decision Research? 305

Contents xxi

When Does Design-Decision Research Occur? 308 How Are Design-Decision Research Results Presented? 310

Why Are These Changes in Design Research Taking Place? 313 Implications for Future Research and Applications: Will We

Stay in the Swamp? 315 References 316

10 "Einstein's Theory" of Environment-Behavior Research: A Commentary on Research Utilization

The "Theory" The "Gap" A New Paradigm The Cautionary Tail References

David Kernohan

Contents of Previous Volumes

Index

319

319 320 323 324 325

327

329

Advances in Environment, Behavior, and Design

VOLUME 3