PROHABIT_OIKONET_Lisbon_Seminar

Interdisciplinary analysis of lived space:
architecture, urban planning and environmental
psychology
Leandro Madrazo
School of Architecture La Salle
Ramon Llull University, Barcelona
2nd OIKONET Postgraduate Seminar
ISCTE – IUL Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
Lisbon, 15 February 2018

PROHABIT : Multidisciplinary analysis of the lived environment to
prmote the implementation of the right to the city
www.prohabit.org

Trinitat Nova
Vallcarca
Plus Ultra
An interdisciplinary research –encompassing architecture, urban planning and environmental
psychology– to better understand the bonds between people and spaces, between social and
physical structures.
The research focuses on three
neighbourhoods in which there is a
strong involvement of residents in
the on-going physical
transformations

PROHABIT’s research focuses on three main issues:
1. Identification and description of the different uses of space:
analysis of public and domestic space, as well as the transitional
spaces between them, to understand the relationships between the
built spaces and the people’s behaviour.
2. Understanding of the symbolization processes in which
inhabitants both individually and collectively assign meanings to
spaces: analysis of the territorial uses of space, identification of the
symbolic landmarks, and involvement of the neighbours in the
processes to give meaning to spaces.
3. Understanding of the processes of formation of collective identity
linked to the sense of place: identification of a sense of belonging
among the neighbours, their resistance to changes that threaten the
identity of the neighbourhood and the actions taken to build a sense of
identity, continuity or rupture.

PLUS ULTRA VALLCARCATRINITAT NOVA

1. THEORETICAL PREMISES
Environment-Behaviour vs. Architecture – Planning
2. EDUCATION
People and spaces: experiences in architectural and
planning education
3. RESEARCH
An interdisciplinary research project on the analysis of
lived space (Prohabit)

1. THEORETICAL PREMISES
• Environmental Psychology
• Architecture / Environmental Psychology
• Space / Place
• House / Home
• Participation

PEOPLEPEOPLEENVIRONMENT
Environmental psychology examines the relationship between people and their
environment
Kopec, D. (2006) Environmental psychology for design: “The interactional theory, …….., declares
that people and the environment are separate entities that are constantly interacting”

Which interactions?
In which context?
Which environment? Which people?
environment
Can they be separated?

communities
Which people?
social groups
individuals
humans
inhabitants
environment

ENVIRONMENT
physical
ecological
social
economic
cultural
political
technological
institutional
Which environment?
Churchman, A. (2002). Environmental psychology and urban planning: “The environment is
understood to be an all-encompassing term, including all aspects of the world- physical, ecological,
social, economic, cultural, political, institutional, technological, and individual”
Environment as combination of social, cultural, biological factors
environment

ENVIRONMENT
physical
ecological
social
economic
cultural
political
technological
institutional
Which environment?
humans
environment

ENVIRONMENT
physical
ecological
social
economic
cultural
political
technological
institutional
Which environment?
users
environment

Which interactions?
personalization
feelings
perceptions
exploitation
affordances,
constraints,
arousal
capabilities
environment

ENVIRONMENT
Veitch, R., & Arkkelin, D. (1995). Environmental psychology: An interdisciplinary
perspective: “With the development of ecological science, organisms were no longer viewed as
being separate from their environment, but were seen as integral to it.”
PEOPLEENVIRONMENT
Ittelson, W. H. (1973). Environment and cognition.: “…the environment surrounds, enfolds,
engulfs and nothing and non-one can be isolated and identified as standing outside of, and apart
from it…”
environment

ENVIRONMENT
PEOPLEENVIRONMENT
Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., & Rivlin, L. G. (Eds.). (1970). Environmental psychology:
Man and his physical setting: “….from a theoretical point of view there is no physical
environment apart from human experience and social organization. The physical environment that
man constructs is as much a social phenomenon as it is a physical one”
[PHYSICAL]
environment

ENVIRONMENT
Environmental psychology deals with behaviour in relation to the environment.
Canter, D. (1977) The Psychology of Place: “…any act is made in relation to the context
within which the individual thinks himself to be.”
In whih context?
PEOPLEENVIRONMENT
BEHAVIOURAL SYSTEM

PEOPLEENVIRONMENT
BEHAVIOURENVIRONMENT
Kurt Lewin, 1936: Behaviour is a function of the person (P) and the environment (E)
B= f (P, E)
Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., & Rivlin, L. G. (Eds.).
(1970). Environmental psychology: Man and his physical setting: “….the
relationship between behavior and the man-defined environment, and in its
simplest form, that is what environmental psychology is all about”

“The relationships between people and their everyday environments
received only sporadic attention from behavioral scientists prior to the
mid-1960s. However, several circumstances converged during the
late 1960s to move environment-behavior research from the
background to the forefront of social science. Concerns about
environmental degradation and urban violence, shortages of natural
resources, and the impacts of environmental pollution on health
increased sharply during this period”.
Stokols, D., & Altman, I. (Eds.). (1987). Handbook of environmental psychology
Why study environment-behaviour?

PEOPLEENVIRONMENT
The goal is to achieve a stage of equilibrium, a harmonious
relationship between both; a dynamic equilibrium achieved through
adaptation and adjustment.
individuals adapt
to the
environment
ACTION
Veitch, R., & Arkkelin, D. (1995): “When environmental-stimulus properties change to the extent
that they have exceeded the AL [adaptation level] boundaries, the individual experiences
“unpleasantness”, and the influence of the environment is no longer steady-state. It is only at this
point that changes in the normative modes of behavior can be expected, that the regularized,
routinized behavioral-setting influence begins to break down.”
A system is in a steady state if the state variables which define its behaviour
are unchanging in time

environment is
adjusted to suit
the needs of
individuals
REACTION
Gifford, R., Steg, L., & Reser, J. P. (2011). Environmental psychology.. “Environmental
psychology is the study of transactions between individuals and their physical settings (Gifford,
2007a). In these transactions, individuals change their environments, and their behavior and
experiences are changed by their environments. It includes theory, research, and practice aimed at
making the built environment more humane and improving human relations with the natural
environment.”
Communication theory: action, interaction, transaction
ACTION
individuals adapt
to the
environment
TRANSACTION
The goal is to achieve a stage of equilibrium, a harmonious
relationship between both; a dynamic equilibrium achieved through
adaptation and adjustment.

PEOPLEENVIRONMENT
individuals adapt to
the environment
Piaget’s theory cognitive development Assimilation / Accommodation
environment is
adjusted to suit the
needs of individuals
ACCOMODATIONASSIMILATION
equilibrium
disequilibrium
Self-regulated mechanisms (feed-back loop)
Experiences are
assimilated to what
it has been
previously
understood
Pre-existing
schemas are
modified to fir with
new information

PEOPLEENVIRONMENT
Veitch, R., & Arkkelin, D. (1995): ”...we have become aware of the delicate balance between the
quality of the environment and the quality of human life, and we have come to realize that this
balance can be easily upset by human actions.”
Keeping a balance between environment and people
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
PROBLEMS
Humans’ influence
on the environment
Environment’s
influence on humans
D. Kopec, 2012: “The human-environment relationship is a symbiotic in that the
environment influences our behaviors and we in turn influence the
environment”

PEOPLEENVIRONMENT
Veitch, R., & Arkkelin, D. (1995): “Typically we arrive at a place with considerable information
about that place and with a plan in mind of what we will do there. We have certain expectations
regarding the cultural purpose of the place, who will be there, the kind and degree of affect that will
be elicited, the opportunities that will be afforded, as well as the constraints that will be placed upon
us”
?

PEOPLEENVIRONMENT
The reaction depends on the image that the person has of the
environment; the expectations s/he has with regard to the
actions to take place
IMAGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Goals, expectations
Golledge, R. G. (1987). Environmental Cognition: “…. arrival at a particular place is usually
accompanied by some a priori expectations about the type of behaviour that could take place in
such a place and some a priori notion of what behaviour at will be followed while occupying
that place.”
Abelson, R., Schank, R. (1975) Scripts, plans, and knowledge

“Between 1970 and 1980, several coherent paradigms of
environment-behavior research emerged, focusing on topics such as
personal space, crowding and territoriality; environmental attitudes
and assessment; spatial cognition, resource conservation, and
behavior settings analysis; individuals’ reactions to environmental
stressors; small group ecology; and the influence of urban and
cultural factors on the vitality of neighborhoods and community
groups”
Stokols, D., & Altman, I. (Eds.). (1987). Handbook of environmental
psychology

groups
individuals
communities
buildings
streets
commerce
green areas
internet energy sources
climate
neighbourhoods
housing
square
Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., & Rivlin, L. G. (Eds.). (1970).: [“loss of privacy” in an urban
ghetto] “It is also a socio-psychological, economic, sociological, and architectural-design
phenomenon related to the organization of groups, institutional practices, and structural and
substantive properties of physical settings”
ENVIRONMENT AS SYSTEM

groups
individuals
communities
buildings
streets
commerce
green areas
climate
neighbourhoods
housing
square
crowding
INCREASED DENSITY
economic development
loss of privacy
Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., & Rivlin, L. G. (Eds.). (1970): [“loss of privacy” in an urban
ghetto] “It is also a socio-psychological, economic, sociological, and architectural-design
phenomenon related to the organization of groups, institutional practices, and structural and
substantive properties of physical settings”

groups
individuals
communities
buildings
streets
commerce
green areas
climate
neighbourhoods
housing
square
crowding
INCREASED DENSITY
economic development
Chadwick, G. (1971). A systems view of planning: “The real world is, in fact, a complex system
of both natural and man-made things; ……undergoing irreversible change through the passing of
time. ..a town as a physical artefact cannot be regarded meaningfully as a system…..it is only when
the buildings are occupied by people’s activities; when the spaces and channels are filled with flows
and movements of people and goods and information; …….– only then is a town usefully to be
seen as a system.”
loss of privacy

groups
individuals
communities
buildings
streets
commerce
green areas
climate
neighbourhoods
square
OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS [researcher as external observer of environmental transactions]
Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., & Rivlin, L. G. (Eds.). (1970): “….. the individual, as
a component of the total environmental process, is investigated in order to provide us
with a greater understanding of this process. The scientist, as the observer, stands
outside the environment and gathers data on the persons who participate in it with
this objective in mind. ”
housing
EXPERT

groups
individuals
communities
buildings
streets
commerce
green areas
climate
neighbourhoods
housing
square
EXPERT
Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., & Rivlin, L. G. (Eds.). (1970): “….. the individual, as
a component of the total environmental process, is investigated in order to provide us
with a greater understanding of this process. The scientist, as the observer, stands
outside the environment and gathers data on the persons who participate in it with
this objective in mind. ”
Susan Saegert: “The person is conceptualized as always simultaneously embedded in the
environment and actively defining and giving form to it””

groups
individual
communities
buildings
streets
commerce
green areas
internet
energy sources
climate
neighbourhood
housing
square
Conceptualization of inhabitant’s perception of the environment s/he is part of
PHENOMENOLOGICAL [process participant]
Saegert, S. (1987). Environmental psychology and social change: “Thus the environment
exists in the psychological experience of the individual, in the social relationships of people, and in
the physical environment of time, space, and matter.“

social
individual
cognitive
physical
ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
buildings
spaces
infrastructures
nature
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., & Rivlin, L. G. (Eds.). (1970): “Environmental psychology can
only be understood and defined, however, in the context of the environmental sciences in general-
the larger body of studies concerned with the consequences of man’s manipulation of his
environment.”

Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., & Rivlin, L. G. (Eds.). (1970): “….environmental psychology
is an emergent discipline that must evolve as an interdisciplinary superstructure of theoretical
constructs and principles rooted in the basic formulations and empirical findings of many separate
disciplines. Second this superstructure can emerge only from the cooperative theoretical and
empirical endeavors of the researchers representing these various disciplines.”
sociology
geography
architecture
ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY [AS SUPERSTRUCTURE]
Links created by researchers from the
various disciplines
Veitch, R., & Arkkelin, D. (1995):: “Environmental psychology constitutes an area of inquiry
that is rooted in numerous disciplines”.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
biology
psychology
geography
sociology
architecture
phylosophy
economy
Veitch, R., & Arkkelin, D. (1995): “On the one hand, the interdisciplinary nature of environmental
psychology is laudable in that various perspectives are brought to bear on a single phenomenon,
…….. On the other hand, it is this very multiplicity that leads to difficulties in the systematic
application of knowledge and in the development of well-articulated unifying theories.”

ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGYARCHITECTURE/PLANNING
PSYCHOPHYSICS, SOCIOPHYSICS
Sound, colour, and light
effects on peoples’ feelings
and behaviour
PEOPLEBUILT ENVIRONMENT

Density
Crowding
Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., & Rivlin, L. G. (Eds.). (1970): “We do not yet know how to
handle problems whose solutions require knowledge that can only be gleaned from the empty
interstices between disciplines. The multidisciplinary nature of the environmental sciences
represents both one of their chief identifying features and one of their major challenges.”

Thompson Klein, Julie. 1990. Interdisciplinarity. History, Theory and Practice.
Multidisciplinarity: bringing together various disciplines,
while respecting the boundaries of each one
Interdisciplinarity: creating links between disciplines,
harmonizing them in a coherent whole
Transdisciplinarity: subsuming disciplines under a new
conceptual framework, superseding the disciplinary
boundaries

infrastructures
nature
BEHAVIOURBUILT ENVIRONMENT
buildings
spaces
ARCHITECTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
social
Individual
cognitive
physical
D. Appleyard, 1969. Why Buildings Are Known
D. Canter, 1974. Psychology for Architects

- An awareness that design problems had become too
complex to be solved intuitively by designers
-> design methods movement, influenced by systems
analysis and operations research
Alexander: “…today more and more design problems are reaching
insoluble levels of complexity. ….too complex to grasp intuitively”
In architecture, from 1940s to 1960s, there was:
- A criticism of the functional reductionism of the modern
movement: it was no longer clear who the user of the
“functional” architecture would be, nor of the meaning of
“function”
-> turning to psychology to know who the user is, what the user
needs, how the user behaves
Smithsons: “Our hierarchy of associations is woven into a modulated
continuum representing the true complexity of human association”

Saegert, S. (1987). Environmental
psychology and social change:
“…design theory said much about
sculptural form and aesthetic traditions
but little about the everyday
experience of using design spaces.
Planning theory combined elements of
economics, political science,
geography and sociology but mainly
overlooked the psychological level of
analysis.”
Groat, L. N., & Després, C. (1991).
The significance of architectural
theory for environmental design
research: “Theoretical discourses in
the architectural literature have tended
to focus strictly on the formal or
structural aspects of architecture,
neglecting or ignoring people’s
relationships to the built environment”
form vs. people

Churchman, A. (2002).
Environmental psychology and
urban planning: “….in the list of
planning skills ……there is no
subclassification of knowledge about
people, their needs, and their
preferences.”
Churchman, A. (2002).
Environmental psychology and
urban planning: “We in
environmental psychology are
interested in environmental
perception and cognition, in feelings,
beliefs, and attitudes, in personality
and the environment, in concepts
such as personal space, territoriality,
privacy, and crowding …….all
focused on the individual and his or
her experience, and none intuitively
or obviously relevant to urban
planners”
Environmental psychology is interested in people; architecture is not
(crowding vs. density)

prescriptive or normative; it
tells how thinks should be
explanatory; it explains observable
phenomena through abstract
principles
How things should be concerning what:
quality of life, people’s behaviour, economic
benefit?
Which are the observable phenomena?
People’s feelings, actions and attitudes within
a particular environment?
DESIGN SCIENCE
Bell, G., Greene, C. , Fisher, & Baum
(2001). Environmental Psychology:
“Designers need to consider how
buildings affect the people using them
by understanding both how design
influences people and how we can
modify the design to facilitate the
function for which the setting is
intended”.
prescriptive vs. explanatory

PRESENT FUTUREPAST
Churchman, A. (2002). Environmental psychology and urban planning: “There is a difference
also in the time frame being dealt with: Planning’s mandate is to focus on the future, whereas
environmental psychology studies the past and the present and only sometimes is willing to hazard
a guess as to what this means for the future.”
Past/present vs. future

L. Groat, c. Depres, 1991: “Very
few environment-behaviour
researchers have explicitly built
upon architectural theory to
define their research designs. In
particular, only a few
environment-behaviour
researchers have explicitly used
any of the five categories of
physical attributed identified in
the architectural literature”
L. Groat, c. Depres, 1991: “Many
of the design principles described
in architectural discourse
constitute implicit hypothesis”
ARCHITECTURE/PLANNING
Formal properties of built
environment:
style, composition, type,
morphology, place
How are they perceived by people?
Churchman, A. (2002). Environmental psychology and urban planning: “Environmental
psychologists need to undertake research that links the physical aspects of the context to the
subjective ones and describes the physical variables in terms that are relevant to planners. We
need to understand the variables that planners deal with and the levels at which they can affect
decisions and to focus research on these levels, too. Working with planners forces us to learn about
the planning and governmental system and to expand our concept of context to include these
aspects.”

Churchman, A. (2002). Environmental psychology and urban planning: “The environment
behavior approach focuses on different groups of people and the degree to which the environment
‘fits’ their needs. This is a people-centered field that relates to people and their needs concretely,
whereas planning relates to people in general and in the abstract. “
FIT

“Part of the world over which
we have control, and which we
decide to shape while leaving
the rest of the world as it is.”.
“Part of the world which puts
demands on this form; anything
in the world that makes demands
of the form is context”
“Fitness is a relation
of mutual
acceptability
between these two “
CONTEXT FORM
The form is the solution to the probleThe context defines the problem
Alexander, C. (1964). Notes on the Synthesis of Form: “…every design
problem begins with an effort to achieve fitness between two entities: the form in
question and its context.”
FIT

Lynch, K. (1960). The image of the city: “[legibility] the ease with which the
parts of a city can be recognized and can be organized into a coherent
pattern”
FIT
BEHAVIOURENVIRONMENT image

Density
Crowding
Churchman, A. (2002). Environmental psychology and urban planning: “Many planners
understand that physical planning must incorporate the social and individual aspects of people’s
lives. However, there are two problems here: one is that there are no developed tools for how to
accomplish this goal, so each planner tries to work out a strategy on his or her own”
How to get the two disciplines to collaborate?

PRUITT-IGOE
Charles Jencks, 1977: "Modern
architecture died in St Louis, Missouri
on July 15, 1972, at 3.32pm (or
thereabouts)."
Minoru Yamasaki, Wendell O.
Pruitt Homes and William Igoe
Apartments, Sant-Louis, 1956

PRUITT-IGOE
Yancey, W. L. (1971). Architecture,
interaction, and social control: :
“…..Windows, particularly those on
the lower floors, are broken out. The
cost of replacing glass in vacant
apartments led the Housing Authority
to cover many plywood. Streets and
parking lots are littered with trash,
bottles and tin cans. Derelict cars
provide an attractive source of
entertainment for children…...”
“The 20 families will use the
gallery:
1. As a close, safe playground
for small children while mothers
are doing housework, or laundry.
2. As an open air hallway
3. As a porch in spring, autumn
and summer.
4. As a laundry
5. As storage for such items as
bicycles, washing machines and
tools.”

PRUITT-IGOE
Minimizing
“wasted
space”
Lack of
adequate
“defensible
space”

HOUSING HOME
private, experientialpublic, physical
Tognoli, J. (1987). Residential
environments: “Housing is a term
that defines the public rather than the
private sphere. It emphasizes an
ultimately knowable set of physical
and spatial parameters rather than the
behavior of only one individual in one
house.”
Fried, M., & Gleicher, P. (1961).
Some sources of residential
satisfaction in an urban slum:
“…’home’ is not merely an
apartment of a house but a local
area in which some of the most
meaningful aspects of life are
experienced”

HOUSING HOME
private, experientialpublic, physical
Tall, D. (1996). Dwelling; making peace with space and place: “To
say we dwell somewhere implies permanence, or at least continuity.
But at root “dwell” means to pause, to linger or delay. We dwell on a
subject, but eventually give it up. So what does it mean to dwell
somewhere? How long do we have to stay?”

Alison and Peter Smithson, Small pleasure of life,
Changing the Art of Inhabitation, London, 1993
Alison & Peter Smithson: “It is
imposible for each man to construct
his own home. It is for the architect to
make it posible for the man to make
the flat his house, the maisonette his
habitat….that each man shall be at
liberty to adapt for himself.”
Veitch, R., & Arkkelin, D.
(1995). Environmental psychology:
“The home appears to be a critical
physical mechanism for satisfying the
need to establish a permanent spatial
location that the individual considers
as his or her private domain, and
which serves as a base for regulating
social interaction”.

R. Veitch, D. Arkkelin, 1995
“Territorials markers. … it is common
for people to “personalize” their rooms
or offices with decorations that reflect
their personalities and that signify the
area is uniquely theirs. In a very real
sense, an individual’s personal identity
depends upon the ability to occupy
and mark a territory as one’s own”
Alison & Peter Smithson: “The
street-deck itself is articulated so that
the part by the individual front doors
offers itself for being taken possession
of by the householder.”
Allison & Peter Smithson, Robin Hood Gardens,
London, 1972 [Demolished 2017]
“Signs of occupancy”

“To Alison and Peter Smithson, creating a house was
not about designing a smooth machine in good working
order: they wanted to construct a place, a territory.
……a structure should welcome its appropriation by
inhabitants, their patterns of use, their art of
inhabitation.”
Dirk van den Heuvel, Max Risselada, “Just a a Few Houses,…”. In
Alison and Peter Smithson – from the House of the Future to a
house of today, 2004.

“[The transfer of the Taylors system to the household]”.
“[The nerve of the apartment is the kitchen, where the main work of the housewoman takes place
in the small household].”
Bruno Taut, Die Neue Wohnung, 1925 [author’s translation]

A history of success? A history of failure?
Huxtable, A. L. (1981). Le Corbusier’s Housing Project-Flexible Enough to
Endure: “Pessac was supposedly finished off by
the occupants' rebellious rejection of Le Corbusier's doctrinaire modernist esthetic and
elitist ideas about how they should live.”

Huxtable, A. L. (1981): “The scale and relationship of the houses to each other and to
the gardens was excellent; the shapes and proportions of the buildings were unusually
strong and good. There was a feeling of a cohesive whole. Even with the loss of key
elements of the Corbusian style - the precise repetition of open and closed geometries,
the visual sense of the thin concrete, the painterly abstraction of the original colored
facades - the settlement retained an impressive and recognizable integrity. Pessac was
a very pleasant place to be. And these houses were clearly survivors.”
A history of success

HOME : IDENTITY : PLACE
three intertwined concepts, one idea: the bond between person and space

Space as extension Space as existence

“Philosophers and psychologists have argued about
the nature of space for centuries. They have debated
whether it is an empirical concept derived from
perception of from images, whether it is innate to
thought and consciouness, or whether it is operational
in character, and so on. Surely here if anywhere is
cause for resorting to experimental psychology, since
only the actual data of mental evaluation can reveal
the true factors operative in the development of the
notion of space”
J. Piaget, B. Inhelder, 1956, Child's Conception of Space

ENVIRONMENT PEOPLEENVIRONMENT
SPACE
ENVIRONMENTAL COGNITION
Piaget: The concept of space is acquired as a result of the interaction with
the environment

ENVIRONMENT PEOPLEENVIRONMENT
SPACE
EXISTENTIALIST PHILOSOPHY
We exist in space, the being cannot be separated from space; space is not an
abstract container of activities separated from the subject.
spaces
buildings
Heidegger: “Das Dasein ist räumlich”- We exist in space

“The term 'place', as opposed to space, implies a strong emotional
tie, temporary or more longlasting, between a person and a
particular physical location.“
J. D. Sime (1986) Creating places or designing spaces?

“Are architects less preoccupied with creating places than
designing spaces?
Is it possible for architects to 'create places' as opposed to 'design
spaces' for building users?
What general implications does the concept of place have for
architectural design and research in environmental psychology?”
J. D. Sime (1986) Creating places or designing spaces?

C. Norberg-Schulz (1971), Existence, Space and Architecture
“Whereas ‘space’ denotes the three-dimensional organization
of the elements which make up a place, “character” denotes
the general ‘atmosphere’ which is the most comprehensive
property of any place.”

“Whereas ‘space’ denotes the three-dimensional organization
of the elements which make up a place, “character” denotes
the general ‘atmosphere’ which is the most comprehensive
property of any place.”
“Place is evidently an integral part of existence. What, then, do
we man with the word “place”? Obviously we mean something
more than abstract location. We mean a totality made up of
concrete things having material substance, shape, texture, and
colour. Together these things determine and ‘environmental
character’, which is the essence of place.”
C. Norberg-Schulz (1971), Existence, Space and Architecture

PLACE
Groat, L. N., & Després, C. (1991). The significance of architectural theory for
environmental design research.: “The concept of place represents an important and
especially significant confluence of the environment-behaviour literature and
architectural theory”
SOCIOPHYSICAL SPACE

Canter, D. (1977). The psychology of place: “…a place is the result of relationships
between actions, conceptions and physical attributes”
J. D. Sime (1986) Creating places or designing spaces? “Unfortunately, although identifying
psychological factors important in understanding the relationship of people to physical
environments, there is limited attention to people's actions (as in Relph's book) and almost none at
all to the objective physical environment which architects have to manipulate”

Tschumi Architects: “Architecture is not simply about space and form, but also
about event, action, and what happens in space.”
Tschumi Architects, The Manhattan Transcripts, 1976-1981
FORM
ACTION
EVENT

M. Fried & P. Gleicher: “We are
primarily concerned with the way in
which space is organized or structured
in defining the usable environment and
in providing restrictions to or freedom
for mobility in space
N.J. Habraken: “Territorial depth is
measured by the number of
boundary crossings needed to move
from the outer space to the
innermost territory”
Kris Scheerlinck, (2010), Depth Configurations. Proximity, Permeability And Territorial

Lee, T. (1968). Urban neighbourhood as a socio-spatial schema: “The major difficulty for the
social scientist seems to be the elusiveness of neighbourhood. He cannot capture it whole in the
net of a single concept. If he isolates it as a piece of territory, he often finds little or no
correspondence with human behavior; if he concentrates instead on social relationships he
finds that these do not synchronize with geography. “
PHYSICAL SOCIAL
Elusiveness of neighbourhood’s boundaries: what is a neighbourhood?

PHYSICAL SOCIAL
planner resident
knows where
the
neighbourhood
begins and ends
Is aware of what
neighbourhood
means
Mann, 1965 (In Lee, 1968): “Attempts to define the boundaries of the physical neighbourhoods
may be sterile in that they bear so little relation to social relationships. It is more useful to consider
the social relationships themselves rather than to worry about where neighbourhoods begin and
end”.

territorial unit
territorial cluster
territorial complex
D. Stea, 1970. Space, Territory and Human
Movements.
Gifford, R., Steg, L., & Reser, J. P.
(2011). Environmental psychology:
“Territoriality in humans is a pattern of
behavior and experience related to the
control, usually by nonviolent means
such as occupation, law, custom, and
personalization, of physical space,
objects, and ideas”
Hillier, B. (2007). Space is the machine:
“Space is more than a neutral framework for
social and cultural forms. It is built into those
very forms. Human behaviour does not simply
happen in space. It has its own spatial forms.
Encountering, congregating, avoiding,
interacting, dwelling, teaching, eating,
conferring are not just activities that happen in
space. In themselves they constitute spatial
patterns”

“Space Syntax provides a trusted, evidence-based approach to the analysis and
design of spatial layout and land use patterns. We help people to see, in clear
and straightforward terms, how buildings and urban places can be designed to
optimise their functional performance”
The spatial layout of buildings and urban places exerts a powerful
influence on human behaviour. The way that places are connected is
directly related to the way that people move, interact and transact.
DESIGN ANALYSES
http://www.spacesyntax.com/

PEOPLEBUILDINGS
BUILT ENVIRONMENT (sociophysical space)
space structuring
Proshansky et al. 1970: “The physical environment that man constructs is as
much a social phenomenon as it is a physical one”

groups
individuals
communities
MULTIDIMENSIONAL ENVIRONMENT
buildings
streets
commerce
green areas
climate
neighbourhoods
BUILDING
square
PHYSICAL IMPACT
SOCIAL IMPACT
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Hillier, B. (2007). Space is the machine: “At the very least then, a building is both a physical and
a spatial transformation of the situation that existed before the building was built. Each aspect of
this transformation, the physical and the spatial, already has, as we shall see, a social value, …”

1. Perceived space (Spatial practice): "The spatial practice of a society
secretes that society's space; it propounds and presupposes it, in a
dialectical interaction; it produces it slowly and surely as it masters and
appropriates it." (p. 38)
2. Conceived space (Representations of space): "Conceptualized
space, the space of scientists, planners, urbanists, technocratic
subdividers and social engineers, as of a certain type of artist with a
scientific bent - all of whom identify what is lived and what is perceived
with what is conceived." (p. 38)
3. Lived space (Representational spaces): "Space as
directly lived through its associated images and symbols, and hence the
space of ‘inhabitants’ and ‘users’." (39)
Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space, 1981 (1974)

PHYSICAL SPACE
MENTAL SPACESOCIAL SPACE

PHYSICAL SPACE
Do inhabitants perceive
the space as it was
designed?

PHYSICAL SPACE
Do architects know how
inhabitants territorialize
space?
Gifford, R., Steg, L., & Reser, J. P. (2011). Environmental psychology: “Architects can and
should incorporate knowledge about territoriality to allow building users as much control as they are
capable of responsibly exercising and as the organizational context allows; territory holders then
benefit from a greater sense of self-determination, identity, and even safety.”

PHYSICAL SPACE
Do residents participate with designers in the
construction of a shared environmental image?

Churchman, A. (2002). Environmental psychology and urban planning: “The movement in
planning toward more participatory and empowering decision-making processes is a very positive
step in the direction of accommodating the needs and preferences of different groups of people.
Thus, one of the meeting points between the two fields is the area of public participation in
planning.“
SUSTAINABILITY
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
COMMUNITY PLANNING
COHOUSING
LIVEABILITY
CITIES FOR ALL
RIGHT TO THE CITY

SUSTAINABILITY
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
COMMUNITY PLANNING
COHOUSING
LIVEABILITY
CITIES FOR ALL
RIGHT TO THE CITY
Holahan, C.J., & Wandersman, A. (1987). The community psychology perspective in
environmental psychology: “Central to the community perspective’s interest in social change is a
concern with the habitability of the built environment, with its “livability” in social and psychological
terms.”

SENSE OF PLACE?
J. D. Sime (1986) Creating places or designing spaces? : “Architects are certainly not the only
ones to blame for people being victims of design schemes…..Certain forms of architecture, such as
large-scale property developments (e.g. high-rise buildings), may be viewed unfavourably not only
because of physical features of the building design, but as a symbolic intrusion of 'economic space'
into people's 'life space‘”
Photographs by Michael Wolf

SENSE OF PLACE?
Photographs by Michael Wolf
J. D. Sime (1986) Creating places or designing spaces? : “Architects are certainly not the only
ones to blame for people being victims of design schemes…..Certain forms of architecture, such as
large-scale property developments (e.g. high-rise buildings), may be viewed unfavourably not only
because of physical features of the building design, but as a symbolic intrusion of 'economic space'
into people's 'life space‘”

M29 Projekt, Berlin, 2015
R50 – Cohousing / ifau und Jesko
Fezer + Heide & Von Beckerath
Cooperativa La Borda, Barcelona
COHOUSING

“I always attempt to understand the atmosphere that creates the local
identity of a city and to make a contribution that reinforces it. ……. Every
residential building should be able to contribute to create an identity
reaching far beyond the individual.
The architect’s duty in contemporary residential construction is to create
the framework conditions for realizing and representing several different
conditions of living.
… our houses should be more like containers in the future in which
diverse conceptions of living can be represented and realized”
Dietmar Eberle, The Domestic City, In, J. L. Mateo (editor), Global Housing Projects, ACTAR,
2008
Lochau Residences at Lake Constance

GLOBAL DWELLING
“…the ordinary person is a designer being guided, not by
profound theology or philosophy, but by a basic human instinct
for a sense of place.”
“What is necessary is for the architect to acknowledge the
potentially transformative status of the users' knowledge and to
provide channels through which it might be articulated.”
Peter Blundell Jones, Doina Petrescu, Jeremy Till (editors),
Architecture and Participation, 2005
Tom Porter, The Architect’s Eye, 1997
USER AS CO-DESIGNER

“We share a vision of cities for all, referring to the equal use
and enjoyment of cities and human settlements, seeking to
promote inclusivity and ensure that all inhabitants, of present
and future generations, without discrimination of any kind, are
able to inhabit and produce just, safe, healthy, accessible,
affordable, resilient and sustainable cities and human
settlements to foster prosperity and quality of life for all. We
note the efforts of some national and local governments to
enshrine this vision, referred to as “right to the city”, in their
legislation, political declarations and charters.”
UN New Urban Agenda, 2017

“[Human settlements] are participatory, promote civic
engagement, engender a sense of belonging and ownership
among all their inhabitants, prioritize safe, inclusive,
accessible, green and quality public spaces that are friendly for
families, enhance social and intergenerational interactions,
cultural expressions and political participation…..”
UN New Urban Agenda, 2017

HOME
PLACE
IDENTITY
PARTICIPATION
SUSTAINABILITY
LIVEABILITY

Després, C., & Piché, D. (2017). Linking People-Environment Research and
Design. What Is Missing?. “The result is a worrying widening gap
between researchers and designers at a time when working together
has never been more important.”

- Environmental psychology and architecture/planning have their
own background as disciplines, while the relationship between
both has its own history:
-> what stage are the two disciplines nowdays?
-> which conditions are necessary for a productive
relationship to be established?
- Ideas and theories in the different disciplines are subjected to te
infuence of the prevalent thinking models at each time in
history. Gestalt psychology, cybernetics, systems theory,
ecology,…all left their mark on both environmental psychology
and architecture
-> which thinking models operate both disciplines under
nowadays?
-> should they escape from their influence and build their
own body of knowledge, autonomously?

- Environmental psychology and architecture are practice-
oriented disciplines which are not sitting on solid theoretical
grounds:
-> the ways in which they can interact need to be defined in
each particular application case, albeit in research or in
education
- To bridge the still existing gap between environmental
psychology and architecture it is necessary to change
architectural (and environmental psychology) education:
-> more open and participatory design studios, focus on
interdisciplinary and participatory practices, research oriented
-> better understanding of the values that the built
environment has for people

2. EDUCATION
People and spaces: Experiences in architectural and
planning education

NET CITY: A Collaborative Environment to Promote the Understanding of the Contemporary
City (2000-2001)
Madrazo, L. (2005). NET_CITY: A collaborative Environment to promote the Understanding of the Contemporary
City. Journal of Urban Technology, 12:1, 21-47, DOI: 10.1080/10630730500116586

City (2000-2001)
• What would you consider to be the most representative
element of your neighborhood (a monument, a street, a
square. . .. . .)?
• Where would you place the limits of your urban space (a
building, a street. . .. . .. . .)?
• What is your personal experience of the public spaces you
normally use?
• What are you missing in your neighborhood that might
make you move to another place to find it?
• In which spaces does your social activity normally take
place?
• What do you think of the use that people make of the
public space (how they move through it, how they stand on
it)?
• In your opinion, which objects stand out in the visual
environment (a sign, a color, a facade. . ..)?
Leafleft of the campaign carried out in the
Sagrada Familia neighbourhood in Barcelona

City (2000-2001)
Structure of the web-based environment to promote collaboration between students and citizens

City (2000-2001)
Inputs from students and/or citizens

City (2000-2001)
Inputs from users organized in thematic channels

City (2000-2001)
Interface to group users’ inputs into topics

A map generated from the individual perceptions of the environment
FIXA-T’HI. A digital territory to promote environmental education (2005-2007)
Madrazo, L., Hernández, M., Agustí, J. (2008) FIXA-T’HI. A digital territory to promote environmental education, ED MEDIA, Viena.

An abstract machine to search for associations between images and concepts

Management area of the web-based learning environment

OIKODOMOS Participatory Analysis of the Living Environment: the Plus Ultra Neighborhood
(2010-2011)
Engaging residents in a collective analysis of the neighbourhood

(2010-2011)
A neighbour drawing his home

(2010-2011)
Publishing the results of the participatory analysis in a blog
http://lasalle-oikodomos.blogspot.com.es/search/label/participation

UMVA 2014
UMVA- Unidad Móvil de Video Arquitectura, 2011-2017
Using video as a tool to analyse and represent lived space

Work plan to produce a video

Analysis of the neighbourhood Trinitat
Nova, Barcelona. Students: Pablo
Llamazares, Gemma Navarro, Nadim
Osman, 2014/15, School of Architecture
La Salle
Activity 1: DOCUMENTING

Can Cuiàs, Barcelona, 2012
Can Batlló, Barcelona, 2012
On-site review of the students’ analysis in the mobile unit

Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, 2014
Civic Center Can Felipa, Barcelona, 2013
Art Factory Fabra i Coats, Barcelona, 2013
Public presentations and discussion of videos produced by students

“Personal stories of the El Raval neighbouhood, Barcelona”. Students: Alex Guilà, Ignasi López, 2013/14, School
of Architecture La Salle
Activity 3: PRODUCING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RoTF3fhgP8&list=PLzaIcR6ubsylrurZ4MAHzZ7ySb2o8Ja6r

http://umvascreen.blogspot.com.es
http://umvaraval.blogspot.com.es
Dissemination of students’ videos in the UMVA blogs and in the Youtube channel

3. RESEARCH
An interdisciplinary analysis of lived space (PROHABIT)

With citizen participation currently in the spotlight of political and urban programmes, PROHABIT undertakes an
interdisciplinary research –encompassing architecture, urban planning and environmental psychology– to better
understand the bonds between people and spaces, between social and physical structures.
OBJECTIVES

PLUS ULTRA Neighbourhood
The Plus Ultra neighbourhood is a group of buildings located at the foothills of the Montjuïc mountain, in an
agricultural zone adjacent to a water canal. Originally, it was a group of self-build two-storey houses whose
construction began in the 1920s without any form of urban planning. Although they complied with the
administrative requirements, they were not part of the city plan until 1935.

PLUS ULTRA Neighbourhood
After a long fight with neighbours, the city changed the master plan to maintain the urban structure and building
types in 2014. The municipality expects the recovery process of the area to be slow, led by the private sector that
will promote the progressive improvement of the existing buildings while preserving the character of the
neighbourhood.

TRINITAT NOVA Neigbhourhood
Trinitat Nova is an example of the so-called “vertical slums” that emerged in different parts of the periphery of
the city to house the immigrant masses. It was built during the 1950s and 60s in the northern outskirts of the city
of Barcelona to meet the huge demand for social housing created by the influx of immigrants who were attracted
by the industrial growth of the city

Obra Sindical del Hogar
Instituto Nacional de la Vivienda
Source: ARC Engineering and Architecture La Salle
TRINITAT NOVA Neigbhourhood
In 1996, the neighbours’ association took the initiative to launch a Community Plan with the purpose of
refurbishing or replacing the housing stock which was by then severely damaged as a result of the poor quality of
the construction,
Patronato Municipal de la Vivienda

2- Caso de estudio: TRINITAT NOVA
Renovation of semi-private spaces between
blocks
Source: Course SDR 16-17 – School of
Architecture La Salle

VALLCARCA Neigbhourhood
The neighbourhood of Vallcarca began to emerge in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, in
Horta, on the outskirts of the old town of Gràcia, now one of the districts of the city of Barcelona. Its name comes
from Latin vallis carcara, which means “narrow valley”.

Source: http://album.observatorivallcarca.cat/
Originally, it was a settlement of summer houses –
intermingled with humble self-build houses– which
quickly formed a small town with orchards and gardens,
built without following any urban plan

Appropriation of public and private spaces
Source: Project PROHABIT

1. The identification and description of the uses of space at its different
scales
- analysis of the public and the domestic space, as well as the
transition spaces between them, to understand the relationships
between the design of the spaces and the activities that take place in
them.
2. The analysis of the symbolization processes by which the
inhabitants assign meanings to spaces, individually and collectively.
-analysis of the territorial uses of space, identification of the symbolic
landmarks, and the analysis of the different ways of participation and
levels of involvement of the neighbours.
3. The formation of a collective identity linked to the sense of place.
- identification of a sense of belonging among the neighbours, their
resistance to changes that threaten the identity of the neighbourhood
and the actions taken to support a sense of identity continuity or
rupture.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

- The importance of the rigour in the language, in the formulation of
concepts in any research work. The meaning of a term cannot be
taken for granted; terms acquire specific signficance with the
context of the research
- To find a balance between information and knowledge, theory and
practice. Do we first need to know all the work done earlier before
we engage in our own research? Can the outcomes of our research
be invalidated because we did not know all that had been done
before?
- We need to find a balance between intuition and method: common
sense and intelligence are the best instruments to face a research
problem; the rest can be solved along the way
LESSONS LEARNED

- Research is done upon materials (data, documents, observations,…)
with certain methods (case-based, action research,..), with limited
resources (people, instruments) in a limited time
- As for interdisciplinarity…
- It can be an advantage, and a disadvantage
- Its success depends on the participants’ capacity to delimit
together the scope of the research and the objectives to be
achieved; in their interest and understanding of each other’s
discipline,...and on the researcher’s will and capacity to
collaborate
LESSONS LEARNED

Alexander, C. (1964). Notes on the Synthesis of Form. Harvard University Pre Bechtel, R. B.
(2002). Environmental Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Bell, G., & Greene, C. , Fisher, & Baum (2001). Environmental Psychology.
Canter, D. (1977). The psychology of place.
Chadwick, G. (1971). A systems view of planning: towards a theory of the urban and regional
planing process.
Després, C., & Piché, D. (2017). Linking People-Environment Research and Design. What Is
Missing?. In Handbook of Environmental Psychology and Quality of Life Research (pp. 65-
83). Springer, Cham.
Fleury-Bahi, G. (2016). Handbook of Environmental Psychology and Quality of Life Research. E.
Pol, & O. Navarro (Eds.). Springer.
Fried, M., & Gleicher, P. (1961). Some sources of residential satisfaction in an urban
slum. Journal of the American Institute of planners, 27(4), 305-315.
Churchman, A. (2002). Environmental psychology and urban planning: Where can the twain
meet. Handbook of environmental psychology, 191-200.
Gifford, R., Steg, L., & Reser, J. P. (2011). Environmental psychology. IAAP handbook of applied
psychology, 440-470.
Golledge, R. G. (1987). Environmental Cognition. Altman. Handbook of environmental
psychology, 131-174.
REFERENCES

Groat, L. N., & Després, C. (1991). The significance of architectural theory for environmental
design research. In Advances in environment, behavior, and design (pp. 3-52). Springer,
Boston, MA.
Habraken, N. J. (2000). The structure of the ordinary: form and control in the built
environment. MIT press.
Holahan, C.J., & Wandersman, A. (1987). The community psychology perspective in
environmental psychology. In D. Stokols & I. Altman (Eds.), Handbook of Environmental
psychology: Vol. 1 (pp. 827-861). New York: Wiley.
Huxtable, A. L. (1981). Le Corbusier’s Housing Project-Flexible Enough to Endure. The New
York Times, 15.
Ittelson, W. H. (1973). Environment and cognition. Seminar Press.
Kopec, D. A. (2006). Environmental psychology for design. New York: Fairchild.
Jones, P. B., Petrescu, D., & Till, J. (Eds.). (2013). Architecture and participation. Routledge.
Lee, T. (1968). Urban neighbourhood as a socio-spatial schema. Human Relations, 21(3), 241-
267.
Lefebvre, H., & Nicholson-Smith, D. (1991). The production of space (Vol. 142). Blackwell:
Oxford.
Lynch, K. (1960). The image of the city (Vol. 11). MIT press.
Norberg-Schulz, C. (1971). Existence, space & architecture. New York: Praeger.
Perry, C. M. (1927). Inductive vs. Deductive Method in Social Science Research. The
Southwestern Political and Social Science Quarterly, 8(1), 66-74.
REFERENCES

Porter, T. (1997). The architect's eye: visualization and depiction of space in architecture.
Taylor & Francis.
Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., & Rivlin, L. G. (Eds.). (1970). Environmental psychology:
Man and his physical setting (pp. 21-26). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Sime, J. D. (1986). Creating places or designing spaces?. Journal of Environmental
Psychology, 6(1), 49-63.
Stokols, D., & Altman, I. (Eds.). (1987). Handbook of environmental psychology (Vol. 1, 2).
Wiley.
Saegert, S. (1987). Environmental psychology and social change. Handbook of environmental
psychology, 1, 99-128.
Tall, D. (1996). Dwelling; making peace with space and place. Rooted in the land: Essays on
community and place, 104-12.
Tognoli, J. (1987). Residential environments. Handbook of environmental psychology, 1, 655-
690.
Veitch, R., & Arkkelin, D. (1995). Environmental psychology: An interdisciplinary perspective.
Pearson College Division.
Yancey, W. L. (1971). Architecture, interaction, and social control: The case of a large-scale
public housing project. Environment and Behavior, 3(1), 3-21.
REFERENCES

madrazo@salleurl.edu
2018 ARC Engineering and Architecture La Salle
Ramon Llull University, Barcelona
arc.salleurl.edu

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