Human Aspects of Urban Form
Towards a Man—Environment Approach to Urban Form and Design
- 1st Edition - January 1, 1977
- Imprint: Pergamon
- Author: Amos Rapoport
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 1 - 2 4 4 0 - 7
- Hardback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 0 8 - 0 1 7 9 7 4 - 2
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 1 - 5 6 8 2 - 8
Human Aspects of Urban Form: Towards a Man-Environment Approach to Urban Form and Design examines the way people perceive the city, the effects of urban forms on people, and the… Read more
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Request a sales quoteHuman Aspects of Urban Form: Towards a Man-Environment Approach to Urban Form and Design examines the way people perceive the city, the effects of urban forms on people, and the role of images. By adopting a man-environment approach, this book seeks to understand the importance of cities for human behavior or satisfaction. This text also considers the way given urban configurations fit people's psychological, cultural, and social needs. This book consists of six chapters and begins with an introduction to many of the concepts related to human dimensions of urban form and design. Urban design is discussed as the organization of space, time, meaning, and communication. The chapters that follow focus on the nature of the environment, cultural differences, role of values, and the concept of environmental perception as it is being used, along with the concept of image and schema. The three meanings of ""perception"" are then analyzed: the notion of environmental quality and preference as a variable concept and its constituent parts; various aspects of environmental cognition and its relation to design; and perception proper and its various aspects. Discussion then shifts to social, cultural, and ethological concepts that clarify the nature of urban space organization. This book concludes with a chapter stressing the need for people to get involved in the environment, the relationship of activity and form, and notion of open-ended design. This reference material will be of interest to students and practitioners of urban design and planning.
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Urban Design as the Organization of Space, Time, Meaning and Communication
The Meaning of Space
Rules of Organization
The Choice Model of Design
Cultural Variability of Urban Environments
The Role of Values in Design
Environmental Perception
The Perceived Environment
The Excessively broad Meaning of "Perception" in the Literature
Evaluation, Cognition and Perception
The Distinction between Evaluation, Cognition and Perception in the Urban Environment — an Example
Pros and Cons of Making These Distinctions
The Filter Model
The General Concept of Image and Schema
The Development of the Concept of Image
2 Perception of Environmental Quality — Environmental Evaluation and Preference
Components of Environmental Quality
Habitat Selection and Migration in Response to Environmental Preference
The Variability of Standards
The Problem of "Slums"
Squatter Settlements
3 Environmental Cognition
Urban Images
Cognitive Schemata and Mental Maps
The Construction of Mental Maps
Orientation
The Subjective Definition of Areas
Subjective Distance — Space and Time
Subjective Urban Morphology
4 The Importance and Nature of Environmental Perception
The Multisensory Nature of Perception
Information Approaches - Sensory Deprivation and Overload
Density and Privacy in Sensory Terms
Environmental Complexity
The notion of Noticeable Differences
Effects of Scale and Speed of Movement
5 The City in Terms of Social Cultural and Territorial Variables
Clustering and Urban Enclaves
Socio-cultural Aspects of the City
The Relevance of Ethological Concepts in the City
Public and Private Domains
Behavior Setting System
The House-Settlement System
6 The Distinction between Associational and Perceptual Worlds
Symbolism and the Urban Environment
Environment as Communication
Culture, Symbols and Form as Ways of Coping with Overload
Cross-Cultural View of the City — Differences in Form and Cultural Landscapes
Designing for Cultural Pluralism
The Involvement of People in Their Environment and Its Consequences
Conclusion
References
Index of Names
Index of Places
Subject Index
- Edition: 1
- Published: January 1, 1977
- No. of pages (eBook): 448
- Imprint: Pergamon
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN: 9781483124407
- Hardback ISBN: 9780080179742
- eBook ISBN: 9781483156828
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