| dc.description.abstract | This research project represents the search for what turned out to be the ideal. It is, however, fortunate that a successful research project is not always dependent upon proving a preconceived idea or product. Perhaps the following information will be of value to those interested in this or some related thesis.
The built environment is that portion of the land surface whose character or form has been altered by the presence of man. Ittelson in An Introduction to Environmental Psychology identifies three uniquely human features of man's endeavors to change his surroundings: the extent, the deliberate and self-conscious implementation, and the complexity. Man has reshaped the earth for his uses since the Stone Age. Modern techno logy has opened doors and permitted alterations of the environment on a scale which man neither foresaw or understood. an alone effects changes deliberately and self-consciously and does it within a complex interactive culture framework. Man's response to environment and adaptive changes occurs on psychological and social levels as well as physical and biological ones. Changes in the environment are reflective of not simply survival considerations but of philosophical and ethical concepts from human social organization, and human attitudes toward the physical environment. As man has broadened his technological capabilities for altering the physical environment he has begun to create situations which reflect his perceptions and prejudices and satisfy his needs and goals. These needs and goals are constantly changing as man's self-perceptions change.
The availability of technological alterations have corresponding increased the number of changes in the built environment. The majority of people live in a world whose character and form is a result of dramatic human alterations of the original landscape. Evaluation of the character, form, and utility of the urban landscape provides a clue to the perceptual world in which the people live and the experiential basis for behavior patterns. Designers of the physical world employ certain processes for the creation of forms responsive to human needs. Investigation of these processes provides insight into how problems and needs are identified, analyzed, alternate solutions proposed, and final solution chosen to be implemented. | en |
