Environment, Cognition, and Action

How do human beings comprehend, evaluate, and utilize the physical environments they inhabit? In this edited volume, a distinguished group of international contributors examines in detail the interconnections between what we know about, feel, and hope to accomplish in real world environments. Psychologists, planners, architects, and geographers discuss the state of knowledge in environmental cognition, building and landscape assessment, aesthetics, and decision-making. Gaps in our thinking about environmental issues are also discussed. The authors present an analysis of how our knowledge can be utilized in the design and planning of settings better suited to human needs. Of interest to psychologists, geographers, and environmental designers, Environment, Cognition, and Action examines the dynamic interplay of assessment, knowledge, and action of people in all settings relevant to daily life -- home, school, office and industry.

Gary W. Evans & Tommy Garling: Environment, Cognition, and Action; PART I: THE IMPACT OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT: Rachel Kaplan: Environmental description and prediction: A conceptual analysis; Reginald G. Golledge: Cognition of physical and built environments; Harry Timmermans: Decision making processes, choice behavior, and environmental design: conceptual issues and problems of application; Craig Zimring and Mark Gross: Searching for the environment in environmental cognition research; Ervin H. Zube: Environmental assessment, cognition, and action: Research applications; PART II: PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES: Rikard Kuller: Environmental assessment from a neurospsychological perspective; Anders Book: Spatial cognition as events; Stephen Kaplan: Beyond rationality: clarity-based descision making; David Canter: Understanding, assessing, and acting in places: is an integrative framework possible?; Gerald D. Weisman: Conceptualization and application: Psychological processes in environmental cognition and assessment; PART III: LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT: Giovanna Axia, Erminielda Mainardi Peron, and Maria Rosa Baroni: Environmental assessment across the life-span; Lynn S. Liben: Environmental cognition through direct and representational experiences: a life-span perspective; Roger A. Hart and Michael K. Conn: Developmental perspectives on action in environments; Christopher Spencer: Life-span changes in activities, and consequent changes in the cognition and assessment of the environment; Gary T. Moore: Life-span development: applications to environmental policy, planning, and design; PART IV: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION: Tommy Garling, Erik Lindberg, Gunilla Torell and Gary W. Evans: From environmental to ecological cognition.