community environmental psychology
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Community Environmental Psychology. What is Neighborhood?. Is a psychological concept? Not every physical or legal area is a neighborhood. One psychological dimension of neighborhoods is their spatial-cognitive nature. What is Neighborhood?. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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