| Contents Notes |
Environment, cognition, and action : the need for integration / Gary W. Evans and Tommy Gèarling -- Environmental description and prediction : a conceptual analysis / Rachel Kaplan -- Cognition of physical and built environments / Reginald G. Golledge -- Decision-making processes, choice behavior, and environmental design : conceptual issues and problems of application / Harry Timmermans -- Searching for the environment in environmental cognition research / Craig Zimring and Mark Gross -- Environmental assessment, cognition, and action : research applications / Ervin H. Zube -- Environmental assessment from a neuropsychological perspective / Rikard Kèuller -- Spatial cognition as events / Anders Bèoèok. Beyond rationality : clarity-based decision making / Stephen Kaplan -- Understanding, assessing, and acting in places : is an integrative framework possible? / David Canter -- Conceptualization and application : psychological processes in environmental cognition and assessment / Gerald D. Weisman -- Environmental assessment across the life span / Giovanna Axia, Erminielda Mainardi Peron, and Maria Rosa Baroni -- Environmental cognition through direct and representational experiences : a life-span perspective / Lynn S. Liben -- Developmental perspectives on decision making and action in environments / Roger A. Hart and Michael K. Conn -- Life-span changes in activities, and consequent changes in the cognition and assessment of the environment / Christopher Spencer. Life-span developmental issues in environmental assessment, cognition, and action : applications to environmental policy, planning, and design / Gary T. Moore -- From environmental to ecological cognition / Tommy Gèarling [and others]. 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. |
