Environment, Cognition, and Action: An Integrated Approach

How do people comprehend, evaluate, and utilize the physical environments they inhabit? How are the dimensions of objects, their placement in space, and their organization related to thinking and decision-making? This volume features the contributions of international experts who examine the interconnections between what we know about, feel, and hope to accomplish in real-world environments. The discussion follows three major themes: the impact of the physical environment, psychological processes, and life-span development. A detailed survey of the intuitive and evolving human thought processes which give rise to our "sense of place" shows how this dynamic perception is shaped by elements of aesthetics, inferences of comfort, and visions of ourselves acting within specific environments. Psychologists, planners, architects, and geographers discuss the state of knowledge in spatial cognition, environmental assessment, aesthetics, and choice behavior. They show how this knowledge can be applied to the design and planning of settings - such as buildings and landscapes - better suited to human needs, and in particular, how these needs and perceptions evolve over the human lifespan. Environment, Cognition, and Action also evaluates a research agenda that integrates these processes and provides valuable goals for further work in this fascinating field.