As interior designers our goal is to clarify our understanding of the relationship between people and the built environment by reviewing existing ideas. I personally believe that we are naturally more sensitive to the environment (either because we were born that way or trained to be this way) and we, overall, believe that the environment can have an impact on a user’s experience and behavior.
I feel that Lang explains this very well:
“One has to understand the nature of human motivations because they tell us something about the focus of a person’s attention at a particular time. Maslow’s model of a hierarchy of human motivations is a useful one, for we have self-consciously or unselfconsciously shaped the world to better meet our physiological needs, our needs for safety, belonging, esteem, and actualization, and finally our cognitive and aesthetic needs.”
“Our attitudes are related to our motivations. What we like and dislike, what we believe to be good or bad, important or unimportant-these attitudes are related to the various socialization processes and experiences we have had and thus to the influence of others. We, in turn, try to influence others. Our personalities and our social and cultural backgrounds are all indicators, not perfect predictors, of attitudes toward people and toward characteristics of the built environment. Similarly, what we perceive to be the rewards and costs of participating in a particular setting affect our attitudes to the setting -to the people in it, to their behavior, and to the milieu.Some settings are highly stressful, but the financial and psychological rewards for being there are high and so we accept the stress. Other settings are highly unpleasant and the rewards for being there are low and the costs high. If there is an alternative, people are likely to attempt to get out of the situation. Sometimes, for those trapped by poverty or authoritarianpolitical powers, there is no alternative. There are also situations where the rewards are high and the costs very low for being there. We cannot expect to always be in such situations.”
Different factors can influence a user’s desire to act in an environment in particular ways. For example, let’s say that we are designing an “environmentally friendly” office. Naturally, we would want to design a space that highlights the positive emotions associated with activities like recycling, riding your bike to work or using public transportation when trying to promote pro-environmental behavior. On the other hand, we must realize that negative emotions (anticipating that a particular activity will not be pleasant) may hinder the likelihood of our desired behavior (using public transportation).
Source: Lang, Jon. The Built Environment and Human Behaviors. Creating Architectural Theory: The role of the behavioral sciences in design, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. 100-108
[Image: The Causemopolitan]
Filed under: Environment, Theory, environment-behavior, interior design
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