Applying Environmental Psychology Principles to Urban Design

Trondheim, Norway

Environmental Psychology Concepts-- A Basis For Design Guidelines

•  Systems theory and social ecology, ecosystem concept •  Person-environment fit (or congruence) •  Environmental symbolism; place-based and virtual settings •  Environmental determinism; moderators of environmental influence •  Physiological and psychological stress, learned helplessness, overload •  Density and crowding; ceiling density, carrying capacity •  Privacy, personal space, territoriality •  Spatial proximity, functional distance, friendship formation •  Intimacy gradients and defensible space •  Impact of environmental stressors, overload on behavior and health •  Cognitive and behavioral mapping; imageability, legibility •  Personality and environment (stimulation seeking, hardiness) •  Environmental attitudes and assessments •  Place identity, physical traces, identity claims •  Behavior settings, over- and understaffing; third places •  Influence of human behavior on environmental quality •  Operant reinforcement, feedback, social norms, social praise •  Human response to natural and technological disasters

(Jacobs, 1969)

“Decentrist” Urban Designers

1. Frank Lloyd Wright (The Living City)

2. Ebenezer Howard (The Garden City)

3. Lewis Mumford (The Culture of Cities)

4. Duany, Katz (The New Urbanism)

5. Ray Watson (The Irvine Company)

Wright’s View of Large Cities

“To look at the cross-section of a big city is to look at something like the section of a fibrous tumor…we see there not only similar exaggerations of inflamed tissue but more and more painfully forced circulation; comparable to high blood pressure in the human system” (p. 31)

“Skyscraping is not merely a falsity but a moral, economic, aesthetic, ethical monstronsity!” (p. 55)

(Wright, 1958)

“Ultimate human satisfactions no longer depend upon but are destroyed by density of population” (p.68)

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Organic Architecture …environmental design that

blends harmoniously rather than

conflicts with the surrounding

natural landscape

(Wright, 1958)

Fallingwater in Irvine

(On Michelson near Culver)

Ebenezer Howard’s Garden Cities

•  Modeled after the English country town as a retreat from high-density industrialized cities

•  Emphasized the provision of “wholesome housing”

•  Built around a central garden with open park space and green belts interspersed throughout the town

•  Population held at 32,000

people !

(Howard, 1898)

Major Features

Howard’s Utopian Vision ���of Garden Cities (1898)

Cross-Section Plan for a Garden City

Hierarchical Structure of Garden Cities and a Central City

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An Irvine Green Belt

Principles of New Urbanism

• Compact, Walkable Neighborhoods With Clearly Defined Centers • Diverse Mix of Activities Occur in Close Proximity • Civic Buildings Situated in Prominent Locations • Easy Access to Parks and Public Places

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Mixed Use Planning in Frederick, Maryland

Is Irvine a New Urbanist City?

• Walkable in 5 minutes? • Central Location of Civic Center? • Diverse Mix of Land Uses? • Easy Access to Parks and Public Places?

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Pro-Density Urban Designers

1. Le Corbusier (The Radiant City)

2. Jane Jacobs (The Death and Life of

Great American Cities)

3. Paolo Soleri (Arcology)

4. Kenzo Tange (A Plan for Tokyo 1960)

Le Corbusier’s Vertical Garden City

• Emphasized geometrically arranged skyscrapers located at the center of the city, equipped with roof-top gardens, and surrounded by parks and open-space

• Skyscrapers would occupy only 5% of the ground space

• High density housing with 1200 residents per acre

•  Incorporated one-way arterial roads that were elevated or built underground to separate traffic from pedestrians (Le Corbusier, The Radiant City, 1967)

Application of Le Corbusier’s Ideas

Brasilia, Brazil

Beijing, China

Kenzo Tange’s Plan for Tokyo (1960)

Paolo Soleri’s Arcology

•  Arcology defined as the integration of architecture and ecology

•  Soleri’s urban designs emphasize the efficient use of environmental resources by creating high-density, multi-level community structures that require a relatively small geographic footprint

•  Arcosanti is an experimental town in Central Arizona that is designed according to Soleri’s principles of arcology

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Generators of Diversity in Urban Areas

1. High Density

2. Mixture of Building Types

3. Short City Blocks

4. Mixed Land Uses

(Jacobs, 1969)

Hutong Life in Beijing, China

Hutong neighborhoods reflect Jane Jacobs’ generators of diversity in urban areas, including mixture of building types, short blocks, mixed land uses – in contrast to more modernized areas of Beijing

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(City of Seattle Urban Design Glossary, 2004)

Human Scale

Pioneer Square, Seattle

“the sizes, textures, and arrangements of physical elements that match the size and proportions of humans and can be perceived easily at walking speed”

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Factors That Contribute to Human Scale

1. Building Details 2. Street Trees and Other Landscaping Elements 3. Pavement Texture 4. Street Furniture 5. Mixed Land Uses and “Third Places”

Plaza Major Madrid

Use of Architectural Details to Enhance Human Scale

National Autonmous University of Mexico

Brunelleschi’s Dome, Florence Cathedral

Architectural Detailing to Enhance Human Scale (cont.)

French Quarter, New Orleans

Hass-Lilienthal House, San Francisco

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Features of Building Facades that Undermine Human Scale

1. Large units with few or no doors 2. No visible variation in function 3. Closed or passive facades 4. Monotonous facades 5. Lack of detail, nothing interesting

to look at

(Gehl & Gemzoe, 1996)

Settings That Reflect a Lack of Human Scale

Westin Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles

The Automobile Syndrome

Kinesthetic Sense of Space

Visual Experience of Space

(Hall, 1966)

-using one’s multiple senses (sound, sight, taste, smell, and touch) to experience the fine-grained details of an environment while walking through it

-observing the broad contours of an environment visually, as when one drives through it at rapid speeds

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Oldenburg’s Research on Third Places

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(Oldenburg, 1989, The Great Good Place)

First, Second, and Third Places

• The first place is the home

• The second place is the work setting

• Third places are public places in which individuals participate beyond the realms of home and work

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Third Places The core settings of informal public life; the variety of public places that host the regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of home and work

(Oldenburg, 1999)

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The Irvine Farmers’ Market – A Highly Valued Third Place

“People are very friendly, especially this one older guy whose stand is at the end nearest In-N-Out.  Can't remember the name of the farm right now, but he has amazing fuerte avocados and will gladly educate you about them.”

“I think I've been to almost every Farmer's Market in the county and by far, I think this is the best. Not only is the variety crazy, but the people who sell here just seem to really care about what they are selling. You can ask a question about any item and get a carefully thought out educated response.”

“If you like Mediterranean food, there is a stand in the middle area with an impressive layout of hummus for sampling as well as pita bread and chips.  But it's their three layer appetizer (feta cheese, sundried tomatoes and pesto) that is a must try!”

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The Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, Colorado

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Is Starbucks a Third Place?

Robson Street, Vancouver BC, Canada

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(Stokols, Misra, Runnerstrom, Hipp, 2009)

Hybrid Places

Computer Workers at Starbucks -Combining the functions of

Second and Third Places

Home Office Adjacent to Bedroom -Combining the Functions of

Second and First Places

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Key Factors That Influence the Social Life of Urban Spaces

1. Amount of sitting space

2. Proportion of women and groups in the area

3. Sun, wind, trees, and water

4. Availability of food

5. Connection to the street

6. The “Undesirables” relative to other users

7. Effective capacity--underuse vs. overuse

8. Triangulation

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Triangulation …the process by which some external stimulus provides a linkage between people and prompts strangers to talk to each other as though they were not

(Whyte, 1980)

Provision of Sitting Space

Rockefeller Center, New York City Pioneer Square, Seattle

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Prescriptive Design Guideline

(Whyte, 1980)

…provide one linear foot of sitting space for every 30 square feet of plaza