Dreams, Reality, and the Future of Environmental Psychology by Richard Sommer.
Origins of a New Field
Need to understand social and historical context of the discipline
started in U.S. And Canada and later diffused; related to Roger Barker on psychological ecology and Daniel Berlyne on environmental aesthetics ref to charisma (extraordinary power)
Intellectual climate of the 1960s
challenging traditional assumptions of allocation of power, resources, nature of society behavioral science had not yet predicted
Human Rights Movement
African-Americans and other disenfranchised groups fighting for justice affected ethics and design considerations (eg Brown v Board of Education)
Ecology Movement
Started by Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1962 -- impact on policymakers, public, science-refers to pollution-leads to greater protection of wilderness
But this time not just concerned with wilderness but also urban space, population control, energy
Leads to creation of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and 1960s -- the environmental decade.
43.2.3 The State of Architecture
Construction boom after WWII -- putting up buildings anywhere, anywhere
Architects starting to question their role -- new American Psychological Association and American Institute of Architects-started to find common ground and develop training programs together
How to view it? Independent area of study (human ecology, or envirotecture); new specialty; part of existing specialty of psych or existing specialty of design; or none?
Environmental Studies formed as its own interdisciplinary study (reaction to limitations of old field)
Environmental Psychology formed as subdiscipline of psychology
Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) -- views environmental study as its own discipline
Division of Population and Environmental Psychology of the APA -- environmental psychology is placed within the umbrella of psychology
43.5 Spread of Influence
43.5.1 Within Psychology
Was easy to start new programs in universities at first, but stopped in 1980s with diminishing funds
Has been absorbed into other disciplines
43.5.2 Linkage with Other Professions
link between psychology and architecture peaked in 1970s
interest in environmental issues strong 1970s, 1980s
but widespread belief that architects are not putting research into practice most environmental psychologists do…
