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Психология города: Как быть счастливым в мегаполисе
Всё больше людей перебираются в большие города. Но как жизнь в мегаполисе влияет на мысли, чувства и поведение человека? Эта книга спланирована как прогулка — из дома в город, мимо общественных зданий, парков, школ, офисов и больниц. Психолог Пол Кидуэлл поможет по-новому взглянуть на свой дом, улицу, квартал и весь город целиком и понять, что не нужно куда-то переезжать, чтобы стать счастливым. Достаточно лишь по-новому взглянуть на место своего обитания.
267 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2017
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May 29, 2021
Ending line: This book is an attempt to show that cities must bring us together and feed our nature-starved souls.
An information-dense, but rather interesting book will would captivate any urban planner, interior designer or architect. Starts from the micro-level of the home, and zooms out all the way to the neighbourhood, city and even takes a detour to the office.
___
Home
People demonstrably prefer certain aspects of architecture over others. We prefer a room lit by two windows instead of one. We prefer to walk along a high street that has a human scale, rather than a road serving warehouses or megastores. We like to look out onto nature. We mostly prefer streets on the ground than in the sky.
Buildings can have short- and long-term effects on how we feel. Sometimes, a building is exciting when you first walk around it but causes stress over time. Some encourage exploration and play. Some shut it down.
While it is obvious that bedrooms need to be cave-like, the most pleasing and calming communal living spaces (where we spend most of our time) provide us with clear demarcations between prospect (having lines of sight to the outside, e.g. through windows) and refuge (having walls between us and the outside), signified in the theatrical balance between light and dark spaces.
Research by American geographer Roger Ulrich suggests that satisfaction with a scene increases if some of it falls away, and is hidden. We like to anticipate a new landscape immediately beyond the limits of what we can see right now, waiting to be discovered, and this is likely to be underpinned by our instinct to explore.
Exposure to nature, even for a short period (e.g. through windows), can restore our ability to focus.
Some scenes make us uneasy because we cannot form a gestalt from their myriad features.
Landscapes and buildings need to conform to our understanding of the world. Nature and chaotic buildings can be too wild for comfort. There is a balance to be struck between featurelessness and excess complexity.
The ceiling height preference for American students peaked at 10 feet (3.04m).
For a home to resonate with you emotionally it should be furnished the way you want it to be, without fear of judgment. It should never give up its biographical texture.
The living room plays an important role in reinforcing identity through objects and experiences.
For a place to feel like a home it should contain, as a bare minimum, the ‘living room prototype’ – sofa, table, and chair. This arrangement allows for hosting as well as intimacy. In the case of micro-apartments, in Manhattan, Tokyo and the like, there is no space for this. As such, places around the city, malls, restaurants, cafes, bars, become proxies for the living room and kitchen.
People need someplace to go that is restorative when they leave their apartment. Without good public provision nearby – green space and good public buildings – there is a high risk of adverse health effects.
___
Space Sharing
Too many sharers in one house can cause people to retreat into their bedrooms, restricting expression of identity to there. This retreating is done because social encounters are hard to predict, more likely to be unwanted, and are difficult to avoid.
This can be mitigated by breaking up long corridors into smaller clusters, allowing smaller groups to form, each possessing semi-private space.
Highly agreeable (need to fit in) personalities were more likely to value visual aesthetics. Being overly concerned with the material appearance of a home related to a need for external, rather than internal validation.
The major crime of modernist architecture, and its perpetual legacy, is that it too often dictates how we should live. The minimalist building is not so much a home as a show home, sacrificing individual identity to the ego of the architect.
___
Neighbourhood
Impersonal streets make impersonal people.
Main streets should allow for varied commercial and leisure activities, run by members of the community to serve the local community. In this way they stamp an identity and sense of place on an area.
Good public transport was key to the economic prosperity of a neighbourhood. Public transport allows non-affluent neighbourhoods to have high human traffic, supporting small shops and businesses in the area.
Adding vegetation to a street had a much greater impact on visual appeal than improving building facades or adding street furniture. It can break up otherwise monotonous lines of buildings, or punctuate facades that compete in jarring ways. Taller and broader trees are preferred over squat ones with a small spread. The optimal density is about one tree per house, to avoid an overgrown feeling. Planting strips between pedestrians and streets also greatly improve the appeal of a street, acting as buffer zones between pedestrians and traffic.
Learning in children is adversely affected by both traffic and aircraft noise, with evidence that it creates problems with sustaining attention and memory and also compromises reading comprehension. It is possible that intermittent noise (e.g. planes taking off) is worse than continuous noise in its cognitive effects.
Residents of high burden blocks (traffic noise, air pollution and lack of green space) were found to exhibit unhealthier lifestyles, they smoked more, exercised less and drank marginally more alcohol.
After accounting for gender, education level and employment status, these differences still held true. This suggests that simple changes to the environment should, in the long run, improve the health of people living in high burden city apartments.
In San Francisco, homes are smaller and closer together, and there are more convenience stores within walking distance. Social visiting among the old was high, with 61% visiting friends at least once a week, compared with 35% in San Antonio (more widely spaced, with remote shopping areas that need a car to reach). Interestingly, in the more close-knit communities of San Francisco, there were more long trips made to public leisure places than other cities. It seems that more local social behaviour leads to more engagement in the wider social fabric of a city. The implications are clear: in order to maximize prosocial behaviour among the elderly, give them a walkshed life.
Crime was higher in areas where the public spaces (yards, lifts, lobbies, alleyways, etc.) were hidden from the views of surrounding homes and how difficult they were to navigate and escape from in a hurry. These were incubators of crime. The research conclusions were that a neighbourhood should have open space that is easily guarded and protected. There should be safe and easy access to the surrounding area (streets, vistas, roads) that also provide adequate surveillance.
Spaces between buildings that are on a human sale are much more meaningful: they encourage planting in front of homes and coincidental meetings with neighbours. They create a sense of ownership. Place is essentially about a sense of ownership. Without it, we are left with a space.
Even if an architect’s dream appears to meet some of our needs perfectly, any sense of community will struggle to develop if we, the residents, are not involved in the process.
Public consultation at the planning stage provide useful feedback on the first draft of a new design.
They are an important part of the design process, but forums in local authority buildings are often poorly attended. A solution is to harness the speed and reach of the Internet. Posting photorealistic renderings of proposed buildings for the public to share, repost and comment on is a way to rapid prototype.
It is not enough to be fond of a place. A locally based social network is necessary to help convert emotion into action. Another interesting finding was that there was no strong correlation between the amount of time spent in a place and the strength of neighbourhood ties. Presumably it is the quality of time, not the quantity.
Choice is the key to successful housing- having the option for social contact built into the housing design, but without obligation.
Stepping a new tower block back from the street creates a public space. This helps the pedestrian to not feel dominated by the enormity of the structure, while the street itself feels less closed-in – it has space to breathe.
___
Public Spaces
The provision of elevated gardens not only improves the satisfaction of most residents, it also makes life easier for the parents of small children. They provide a place for them to play, within close sight.
Playground features with a high degree of variety and curiosity – such as the more complex climbing and slide structures – were very effective in enticing children to start playing. In order to encourage children to interact with one another, hiding places underneath objects were particularly effective. What they offered was a semi-private domain where kids could pair off and explore. So although it seems paradoxical, playgrounds that offered a lot of enclosed spaces encouraged more social play.
National surveys in several countries have consistently shown that being in nature is one of the most powerful ways for people to obtain relief from stress. The more parks we can create in the disused spaces of our cities, the less stressed we all will be.
Good public spaces do not happen by accident. The best ones are carefully planned to maximise our engagement with exercise, other people and wildlife.
When we are in crowded situations we tend to become more annoyed with others while attempting group tasks, and express anger more readily. This negative effect can be mitigated to an extent by reducing noise interference, providing partitions and increasing illumination.
If a place is permeable to the street, it is not only more welcoming, if feels safer, because we have a ready route of escape, especially if there are clear sightlines across the internal space – another important design feature for a public building.
___
Office
Open-plan working is not popular among employees if there is nowhere to go for more focused work. There was a privacy-communication trade-off, which on balance, favoured privacy.
Furthermore, the flimsy materials often used to form boundaries in large offices frustrate expectations that noise will be reduced. In reality, when people are out of sight they are out of mind; workers often make more noise, have louder conversations when they can’t see the effect it is having on their colleagues.
Compared to traditional fluorescent lighting, warmer LEDs appear to support positive mood, extended wakefulness and better performance on cognitive tasks.
Satisfaction is related not only to the ability of staff to expand their workspaces but also to the freedom to customise their appearance. Regardless of office layout, the amount of personal space available for work and storage has been identified as the most important influence over workplace satisfaction.
An information-dense, but rather interesting book will would captivate any urban planner, interior designer or architect. Starts from the micro-level of the home, and zooms out all the way to the neighbourhood, city and even takes a detour to the office.
___
Home
People demonstrably prefer certain aspects of architecture over others. We prefer a room lit by two windows instead of one. We prefer to walk along a high street that has a human scale, rather than a road serving warehouses or megastores. We like to look out onto nature. We mostly prefer streets on the ground than in the sky.
Buildings can have short- and long-term effects on how we feel. Sometimes, a building is exciting when you first walk around it but causes stress over time. Some encourage exploration and play. Some shut it down.
While it is obvious that bedrooms need to be cave-like, the most pleasing and calming communal living spaces (where we spend most of our time) provide us with clear demarcations between prospect (having lines of sight to the outside, e.g. through windows) and refuge (having walls between us and the outside), signified in the theatrical balance between light and dark spaces.
Research by American geographer Roger Ulrich suggests that satisfaction with a scene increases if some of it falls away, and is hidden. We like to anticipate a new landscape immediately beyond the limits of what we can see right now, waiting to be discovered, and this is likely to be underpinned by our instinct to explore.
Exposure to nature, even for a short period (e.g. through windows), can restore our ability to focus.
Some scenes make us uneasy because we cannot form a gestalt from their myriad features.
Landscapes and buildings need to conform to our understanding of the world. Nature and chaotic buildings can be too wild for comfort. There is a balance to be struck between featurelessness and excess complexity.
The ceiling height preference for American students peaked at 10 feet (3.04m).
For a home to resonate with you emotionally it should be furnished the way you want it to be, without fear of judgment. It should never give up its biographical texture.
The living room plays an important role in reinforcing identity through objects and experiences.
For a place to feel like a home it should contain, as a bare minimum, the ‘living room prototype’ – sofa, table, and chair. This arrangement allows for hosting as well as intimacy. In the case of micro-apartments, in Manhattan, Tokyo and the like, there is no space for this. As such, places around the city, malls, restaurants, cafes, bars, become proxies for the living room and kitchen.
People need someplace to go that is restorative when they leave their apartment. Without good public provision nearby – green space and good public buildings – there is a high risk of adverse health effects.
___
Space Sharing
Too many sharers in one house can cause people to retreat into their bedrooms, restricting expression of identity to there. This retreating is done because social encounters are hard to predict, more likely to be unwanted, and are difficult to avoid.
This can be mitigated by breaking up long corridors into smaller clusters, allowing smaller groups to form, each possessing semi-private space.
Highly agreeable (need to fit in) personalities were more likely to value visual aesthetics. Being overly concerned with the material appearance of a home related to a need for external, rather than internal validation.
The major crime of modernist architecture, and its perpetual legacy, is that it too often dictates how we should live. The minimalist building is not so much a home as a show home, sacrificing individual identity to the ego of the architect.
___
Neighbourhood
Impersonal streets make impersonal people.
Main streets should allow for varied commercial and leisure activities, run by members of the community to serve the local community. In this way they stamp an identity and sense of place on an area.
Good public transport was key to the economic prosperity of a neighbourhood. Public transport allows non-affluent neighbourhoods to have high human traffic, supporting small shops and businesses in the area.
Adding vegetation to a street had a much greater impact on visual appeal than improving building facades or adding street furniture. It can break up otherwise monotonous lines of buildings, or punctuate facades that compete in jarring ways. Taller and broader trees are preferred over squat ones with a small spread. The optimal density is about one tree per house, to avoid an overgrown feeling. Planting strips between pedestrians and streets also greatly improve the appeal of a street, acting as buffer zones between pedestrians and traffic.
Learning in children is adversely affected by both traffic and aircraft noise, with evidence that it creates problems with sustaining attention and memory and also compromises reading comprehension. It is possible that intermittent noise (e.g. planes taking off) is worse than continuous noise in its cognitive effects.
Residents of high burden blocks (traffic noise, air pollution and lack of green space) were found to exhibit unhealthier lifestyles, they smoked more, exercised less and drank marginally more alcohol.
After accounting for gender, education level and employment status, these differences still held true. This suggests that simple changes to the environment should, in the long run, improve the health of people living in high burden city apartments.
In San Francisco, homes are smaller and closer together, and there are more convenience stores within walking distance. Social visiting among the old was high, with 61% visiting friends at least once a week, compared with 35% in San Antonio (more widely spaced, with remote shopping areas that need a car to reach). Interestingly, in the more close-knit communities of San Francisco, there were more long trips made to public leisure places than other cities. It seems that more local social behaviour leads to more engagement in the wider social fabric of a city. The implications are clear: in order to maximize prosocial behaviour among the elderly, give them a walkshed life.
Crime was higher in areas where the public spaces (yards, lifts, lobbies, alleyways, etc.) were hidden from the views of surrounding homes and how difficult they were to navigate and escape from in a hurry. These were incubators of crime. The research conclusions were that a neighbourhood should have open space that is easily guarded and protected. There should be safe and easy access to the surrounding area (streets, vistas, roads) that also provide adequate surveillance.
Spaces between buildings that are on a human sale are much more meaningful: they encourage planting in front of homes and coincidental meetings with neighbours. They create a sense of ownership. Place is essentially about a sense of ownership. Without it, we are left with a space.
Even if an architect’s dream appears to meet some of our needs perfectly, any sense of community will struggle to develop if we, the residents, are not involved in the process.
Public consultation at the planning stage provide useful feedback on the first draft of a new design.
They are an important part of the design process, but forums in local authority buildings are often poorly attended. A solution is to harness the speed and reach of the Internet. Posting photorealistic renderings of proposed buildings for the public to share, repost and comment on is a way to rapid prototype.
It is not enough to be fond of a place. A locally based social network is necessary to help convert emotion into action. Another interesting finding was that there was no strong correlation between the amount of time spent in a place and the strength of neighbourhood ties. Presumably it is the quality of time, not the quantity.
Choice is the key to successful housing- having the option for social contact built into the housing design, but without obligation.
Stepping a new tower block back from the street creates a public space. This helps the pedestrian to not feel dominated by the enormity of the structure, while the street itself feels less closed-in – it has space to breathe.
___
Public Spaces
The provision of elevated gardens not only improves the satisfaction of most residents, it also makes life easier for the parents of small children. They provide a place for them to play, within close sight.
Playground features with a high degree of variety and curiosity – such as the more complex climbing and slide structures – were very effective in enticing children to start playing. In order to encourage children to interact with one another, hiding places underneath objects were particularly effective. What they offered was a semi-private domain where kids could pair off and explore. So although it seems paradoxical, playgrounds that offered a lot of enclosed spaces encouraged more social play.
National surveys in several countries have consistently shown that being in nature is one of the most powerful ways for people to obtain relief from stress. The more parks we can create in the disused spaces of our cities, the less stressed we all will be.
Good public spaces do not happen by accident. The best ones are carefully planned to maximise our engagement with exercise, other people and wildlife.
When we are in crowded situations we tend to become more annoyed with others while attempting group tasks, and express anger more readily. This negative effect can be mitigated to an extent by reducing noise interference, providing partitions and increasing illumination.
If a place is permeable to the street, it is not only more welcoming, if feels safer, because we have a ready route of escape, especially if there are clear sightlines across the internal space – another important design feature for a public building.
___
Office
Open-plan working is not popular among employees if there is nowhere to go for more focused work. There was a privacy-communication trade-off, which on balance, favoured privacy.
Furthermore, the flimsy materials often used to form boundaries in large offices frustrate expectations that noise will be reduced. In reality, when people are out of sight they are out of mind; workers often make more noise, have louder conversations when they can’t see the effect it is having on their colleagues.
Compared to traditional fluorescent lighting, warmer LEDs appear to support positive mood, extended wakefulness and better performance on cognitive tasks.
Satisfaction is related not only to the ability of staff to expand their workspaces but also to the freedom to customise their appearance. Regardless of office layout, the amount of personal space available for work and storage has been identified as the most important influence over workplace satisfaction.
June 26, 2017
I couldn't resist picking this up from the New Arrivals section of the library with a title promising and analysis of "the psychology of city living". Headspace moves from inside out - starting with the psychology of our most intimate space, the home, then moving to the neighbourhood, public spaces within the city and other significant spaces i.e. the workplace and healing spaces.
It starts out promisingly:
"Buildings, and the spaces between them, entice or enervate our lives, affecting how we perceive, think and feel. It is up to us to make sure they work for us. Developers often build life-sapping buildings, dictated by the interests of commerce. Government buildings are often dictated by cost-cutting. Architects and town planners like to think that they know people and therefore know what will make them happy, but they have made a lot of mistakes over the years, and they are still making them. Much design and planning is guided by a kind of empathetic intuition rather than any scientific evidence. The esteemed architect might be more concerned to make an artistic statement than to design a space that people actually enjoy using. Architectural psychology is often just a secondary concern."
The sections on home gave me some food for thought should I ever decide to move: balancing the need for refuge vs the attraction of prospect (the takeaway: living in a glass box to make the most of amazing views a la so many Grand Design projects might be appealing in theory but less so in practice); an appropriate void to solid ratio (i.e. how big your windows are); having a restorative view of nature (failing which, even images of nature in the home can prove restorative); high ceilings (about 3m); balancing a sense of complexity and mystery vs bland minimalism (e.g. living in a big box); being located close to green spaces and in an area that allows a "walkshed life".
Some of the research Keedwell cites are worth reflecting on. #1: That in cities where living space is extremely limited and there is limited space for personal possessions and hence the expression of identity at home, identity is expressed in the wider cityscape. Toyo Ito observed "how urban nomads reach out for cultural icons within the city which somehow resonate with them, but...believed that identity formed in this way was more superficial, and more at the mercy of emerging cultural trends, more external to the individual and leaving no tangible biographical record. The cultural cons that proliferate in a city's fabric often reflect commercial rather than artistic or social memes." There is therefore a need for planners to provide meaningful public spaces e.g. green spaces and good public buildings for people to gather, and not just rely on shopping centres and cafes to do the job. #2: That giving people a sense of control over the level of social contact they have can minimise the ill effects of social crowding and promote social contact in the longer term. The insights gleaned from experiments on the layout of dorm rooms and their impact on social mixing can be applied to social housing, for instance. #3: The impact of noise e.g. from traffic on well-being, with the ability to have some control over when you are exposed to noise (e.g. by moving to the side of the apartment away from the street) helping to ameliorate some of the negative effects of noise.
Keedwell peppers the book with examples from all over the world. When discussing the importance of good public places for play, he cites the example of New York City:
"Public space is not given high priority when land is scarce and expensive. As ordinary citizens, we have no idea just how much pressure business exerts on city planners - commercial interests bring more money into the city and it can be tempting to concede to them....[Amanda Burden, NYC's chief city planner in 2002-13] has done her homework on what makes a good public space, and she has strongly argued that the self-esteem of a city is more important in the long term then short-term commercial gains. She takes the 'long view for the common good'. As Burden says, 'People feel better about their city just knowing that they are there. A successful city is like a fabulous party. People stay because they are having a good time. The best public space is inviting by its very nature. It doesn't put up any boundaries or barriers, or if it does these are permeable - we can see through them or over them and find a way around them. People pass through it, and stay if they want to; they come and go as they please. Burden observed the behaviour of people in Paley Park, a small pocket park in Manhattan: things that made it a success included comfortable, moveable chairs and abundant greenery, but most of all, it was accessible - people didn't feel as if they were trespassing. These successes do not come about by accident; they arise from putting human needs first."
Keedwell writes clearly and the short chapters make this book a breeze to get through. A highly readable book for those interested in urban development and are looking for a general survey of some of the key issues.
It starts out promisingly:
"Buildings, and the spaces between them, entice or enervate our lives, affecting how we perceive, think and feel. It is up to us to make sure they work for us. Developers often build life-sapping buildings, dictated by the interests of commerce. Government buildings are often dictated by cost-cutting. Architects and town planners like to think that they know people and therefore know what will make them happy, but they have made a lot of mistakes over the years, and they are still making them. Much design and planning is guided by a kind of empathetic intuition rather than any scientific evidence. The esteemed architect might be more concerned to make an artistic statement than to design a space that people actually enjoy using. Architectural psychology is often just a secondary concern."
The sections on home gave me some food for thought should I ever decide to move: balancing the need for refuge vs the attraction of prospect (the takeaway: living in a glass box to make the most of amazing views a la so many Grand Design projects might be appealing in theory but less so in practice); an appropriate void to solid ratio (i.e. how big your windows are); having a restorative view of nature (failing which, even images of nature in the home can prove restorative); high ceilings (about 3m); balancing a sense of complexity and mystery vs bland minimalism (e.g. living in a big box); being located close to green spaces and in an area that allows a "walkshed life".
Some of the research Keedwell cites are worth reflecting on. #1: That in cities where living space is extremely limited and there is limited space for personal possessions and hence the expression of identity at home, identity is expressed in the wider cityscape. Toyo Ito observed "how urban nomads reach out for cultural icons within the city which somehow resonate with them, but...believed that identity formed in this way was more superficial, and more at the mercy of emerging cultural trends, more external to the individual and leaving no tangible biographical record. The cultural cons that proliferate in a city's fabric often reflect commercial rather than artistic or social memes." There is therefore a need for planners to provide meaningful public spaces e.g. green spaces and good public buildings for people to gather, and not just rely on shopping centres and cafes to do the job. #2: That giving people a sense of control over the level of social contact they have can minimise the ill effects of social crowding and promote social contact in the longer term. The insights gleaned from experiments on the layout of dorm rooms and their impact on social mixing can be applied to social housing, for instance. #3: The impact of noise e.g. from traffic on well-being, with the ability to have some control over when you are exposed to noise (e.g. by moving to the side of the apartment away from the street) helping to ameliorate some of the negative effects of noise.
Keedwell peppers the book with examples from all over the world. When discussing the importance of good public places for play, he cites the example of New York City:
"Public space is not given high priority when land is scarce and expensive. As ordinary citizens, we have no idea just how much pressure business exerts on city planners - commercial interests bring more money into the city and it can be tempting to concede to them....[Amanda Burden, NYC's chief city planner in 2002-13] has done her homework on what makes a good public space, and she has strongly argued that the self-esteem of a city is more important in the long term then short-term commercial gains. She takes the 'long view for the common good'. As Burden says, 'People feel better about their city just knowing that they are there. A successful city is like a fabulous party. People stay because they are having a good time. The best public space is inviting by its very nature. It doesn't put up any boundaries or barriers, or if it does these are permeable - we can see through them or over them and find a way around them. People pass through it, and stay if they want to; they come and go as they please. Burden observed the behaviour of people in Paley Park, a small pocket park in Manhattan: things that made it a success included comfortable, moveable chairs and abundant greenery, but most of all, it was accessible - people didn't feel as if they were trespassing. These successes do not come about by accident; they arise from putting human needs first."
Keedwell writes clearly and the short chapters make this book a breeze to get through. A highly readable book for those interested in urban development and are looking for a general survey of some of the key issues.
April 30, 2021
3.5 Stars
This book combines multiple sources of research to imagine the design of an ideal city, especially its key spaces like homes, offices, recreational buildings among others. I am sure it will be valuable to professionals working in fields related to urban design, architecture, city planning etc. I enjoyed it as a casual reader as well.
There is also key pieces of advice for city dwellers as well. How can we have control over our surroundings in a meaningful way? And if we can't, what else can we do to maximize our happiness and well-being? All of this was important (if sometimes a little too "common-sense") and made me look at my surroundings with a bit more careful eye
This book combines multiple sources of research to imagine the design of an ideal city, especially its key spaces like homes, offices, recreational buildings among others. I am sure it will be valuable to professionals working in fields related to urban design, architecture, city planning etc. I enjoyed it as a casual reader as well.
There is also key pieces of advice for city dwellers as well. How can we have control over our surroundings in a meaningful way? And if we can't, what else can we do to maximize our happiness and well-being? All of this was important (if sometimes a little too "common-sense") and made me look at my surroundings with a bit more careful eye
July 11, 2018
Психология архитектуры и дизайна, для непрофессионала как я достаточно интересно. Понимания прибавилось.
March 30, 2020
Buku yang bagus untuk kita merenung macam mana sebuah ruang yang ideal kita boleh bina berpaksikan kepada manusia berbanding duit. Banyak hal yang aku setuju yang sebenarnya tak dapat aku nak cerita dekat kawan-kawan kenapa aku rasa tidak senang terutamanya ketika berada dalam satu ruang. Aku cuba menjauhkan diri dari kata introvert/extrovert sebab aku pun sendiri tak tau aku dalam golongan mana. Buku ini memberi satu pendekatan psikologi terutamanya bagaimana mereka yang dalam golongan extrovert/introvert bereaksi dalam satu ruang. Setiap orang itu unik dan tidak ada satu formula yang khusus adakah extrovert/introvert sesuai begini begitu. Semuanya terpulang kepada selera masing-masing. Tapi ramai yang sepakat, tinggal di bangunan tinggi-tinggi membuatkan sesetengah orang berasa tidak selesa melainkan dalam keadaan terpaksa contohnya tidak ada duit untuk menyewa di kawasan yang lebih rendah dan bermacam-macam faktor lain. Tiba-tiba aku teringat dengan konsep yang sudah sedia wujud dalam masyarakat kita iaitu kampung atau dikembangkan barat dengan perkataan compound. Kampung sebenarnya sudah dibina oleh masyarakat kita yang titik fokusnya sangat manusiawi. Di keliling rumah di lengkapi dengan elemen alam, tidak terpisah tak kira sama ada yang tinggal berhampiran laut atau jauh dari laut. Konsep ini tidak bercerai sebaliknya masyarakat hidup saling membantu dan bekerjasama dalam memastikan keberlangsungan hidup. Tapi masih ada ketimpangan yang boleh kita renungi apabila melibatkan pemilikan tanah terjadilah konflik, itu cerita yang lain. Apa yang saya nak sampaikan disini adalah konsep untuk hidup bersama/dengan alam semula jadi ini tidak asing di dalam masyarakat kita. Kita hanya perlu kembangkan lagi supaya ianya sesuai untuk kehidupan kita di bandar. Mungkin kawan-kawan arkitek di luar sana boleh membantu mengembangkan lagi konsep ini dan siapa tahu, dari budaya kita ini, kita mampu mengekspor kepandaian kita ke negara lain?
January 23, 2021
Все ещё не уверена, правильно ли я оцениваю книги — возможно, это были все-таки три звезды.
Книжка от психотерапевта об архитектуре и градостроительстве, на примерах исследований. Звучит впечатляюще, но, в целом, лично мне никаких секретов не открыла: либо я принимала это как данность (света в помещении должно быть много, но не слишком; офисы с открытой планировкой как правило ужасные; природа и домашние растения влияют на психику благотворно), либо даже читала об этом или слышала на лекциях. Полезно, опять же, увидеть научные доказательства тому, что ты считал аксиомой, и вообще, повторить таблицу умножения.
Интересная мысль, которую я точно заберу с собой: люди с разными чертами личности (интроверты и экстраверты) нуждаются в разных пространствах. Иногда это играет на нюансах, но их тоже важно учитывать.
Книжка от психотерапевта об архитектуре и градостроительстве, на примерах исследований. Звучит впечатляюще, но, в целом, лично мне никаких секретов не открыла: либо я принимала это как данность (света в помещении должно быть много, но не слишком; офисы с открытой планировкой как правило ужасные; природа и домашние растения влияют на психику благотворно), либо даже читала об этом или слышала на лекциях. Полезно, опять же, увидеть научные доказательства тому, что ты считал аксиомой, и вообще, повторить таблицу умножения.
Интересная мысль, которую я точно заберу с собой: люди с разными чертами личности (интроверты и экстраверты) нуждаются в разных пространствах. Иногда это играет на нюансах, но их тоже важно учитывать.
January 16, 2018
Psychology of architecture books like this one should be mandatory reading in every high school in the world.
Maybe that way we would no longer have urban planners rip up cities, "architects" create dark spaces that pretend to be homes, and city neighbourhoods that forget to fit in a proper park, high street and cafés.
I design products and services, not buildings, and I intend to buy copies of this for friends and colleagues because we are all trapped in cities that hurt us.
This book offers some insight into what helps (green, as plants or just a colour, features strongly) and I hope the generation in power (roughly mine) and the next one will use insights like the ones in this book to truly make the world a better place to live in.
Maybe that way we would no longer have urban planners rip up cities, "architects" create dark spaces that pretend to be homes, and city neighbourhoods that forget to fit in a proper park, high street and cafés.
I design products and services, not buildings, and I intend to buy copies of this for friends and colleagues because we are all trapped in cities that hurt us.
This book offers some insight into what helps (green, as plants or just a colour, features strongly) and I hope the generation in power (roughly mine) and the next one will use insights like the ones in this book to truly make the world a better place to live in.
February 10, 2019
A useful read for anyone who designs or works with the living and built environment - Keedwell uses a psychologist’s perspective to examine the effect of city planning, urban design, architecture, interior design and furniture on our minds. The main principles drawn from his wide variety of studies and examples from around the world are:
- we like spaces that are similar to natural landscapes: with a complexity of elements to engage the eye but also with soothing areas to reduce stress, and open so that we can see enough around us and not feel threatened
- similarly, we prefer to live and walk on streets that have a diversity of uses and appearances, ideally with sufficient plant life, and with less noise and disruption from vehicles
- offices need to be designed with a variety of spaces that support both isolated, quiet work as well as group discussions and impromptu encounters. The same space cannot serve all these functions equally
- some reasons for the failure of modernist housing project: lack of access to sunlight, views of nature, semi-private spaces for social interaction, too much noise, blank facades, no space for personalization...all these can depress moods and encourage crime
Many of these principles are commonsensical and not new, but Keedwell gives them extra grounding by citing psychological studies that have tested them (as opposed to the earlier architects who simply designed according to their own principles). Although the impact of the built environment on our individual lives might not be as great as many other things, small changes can cumulatively build up to have a bigger impact, and thus it is worthwhile to keep these principles in mind when designing environments for people.
- we like spaces that are similar to natural landscapes: with a complexity of elements to engage the eye but also with soothing areas to reduce stress, and open so that we can see enough around us and not feel threatened
- similarly, we prefer to live and walk on streets that have a diversity of uses and appearances, ideally with sufficient plant life, and with less noise and disruption from vehicles
- offices need to be designed with a variety of spaces that support both isolated, quiet work as well as group discussions and impromptu encounters. The same space cannot serve all these functions equally
- some reasons for the failure of modernist housing project: lack of access to sunlight, views of nature, semi-private spaces for social interaction, too much noise, blank facades, no space for personalization...all these can depress moods and encourage crime
Many of these principles are commonsensical and not new, but Keedwell gives them extra grounding by citing psychological studies that have tested them (as opposed to the earlier architects who simply designed according to their own principles). Although the impact of the built environment on our individual lives might not be as great as many other things, small changes can cumulatively build up to have a bigger impact, and thus it is worthwhile to keep these principles in mind when designing environments for people.
June 15, 2025
i went into this book prepared as someone sneaking into an urban planning class. it was a surprise to discover that whole lecture was actually crafted for architects
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2
i was a bit misled by the title, which suggests that the book would focus on place-making at a meso scale. i guess that when it comes to context of a city, the fabric between where urban planning ends and architecture begins is often intertwined and its an errands fool to try and strictly isolate them
the book revisits the basics. it's nice to go back to the fundamental principles and be reminded of the moral obligation architects and urban planners have to the city. this book doesnt go in depth, but it covers a wide range of buildings, reaching many typologies and scales, from the personal corner of your home, to the final room of one's life
the main thread running through all the chapters is the importance to remember what makes us human. it's the need of individuality and social connection, the dynamic balance between security and wonder, the existence of nature together with shelter, and last of all, the one that will stuck with me forever, the need of order within chaos
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2
i was a bit misled by the title, which suggests that the book would focus on place-making at a meso scale. i guess that when it comes to context of a city, the fabric between where urban planning ends and architecture begins is often intertwined and its an errands fool to try and strictly isolate them
the book revisits the basics. it's nice to go back to the fundamental principles and be reminded of the moral obligation architects and urban planners have to the city. this book doesnt go in depth, but it covers a wide range of buildings, reaching many typologies and scales, from the personal corner of your home, to the final room of one's life
the main thread running through all the chapters is the importance to remember what makes us human. it's the need of individuality and social connection, the dynamic balance between security and wonder, the existence of nature together with shelter, and last of all, the one that will stuck with me forever, the need of order within chaos
August 25, 2018
Everybody needs headspace - around 3 metres of it, according to research. In this book, Paul Keedwell brings together a great deal of disparate research into the effects of our environment - in our homes, neighbourhoods, workplaces and hospitals & care homes - on our physical and mental well-being, productivity, and overall satisfaction. The results, on the whole, are not too surprising: we like to be surrounded by nature, with easy access to private spaces where we can withdraw to as well as public spaces to socialise, we like a certain amount of random variety, but within orderly structures. What is sometimes surprising are the extent of the impact of small changes on our surroundings. Over the last century, human needs have often been pushed aside in favour of profit and making the most from limited space, but this book shows that this dehumanising approach is often counter-productive.
May 2, 2023
We want a balance of being able to survey our surroundings and also feel protected. Around 47% of the living room walls being windows is ideal.
Looking out over a broad expansive view feels safer. Floor to ceiling windows can make us feel too exposed because everyone can see us.
We want our bedrooms to be like a safe cave.
Gardens are a big mood lift.
A water view is the best. Seeing some land is better than entirely water view, to avoid a subconscious fear of drowning. Being within a few stories of the street is better for socializing and feeling connected to the streetscape. People in penthouses on the top floor feel disconnected.
A rural view without water is equivalent to an urban view with water.
Looking out over a broad expansive view feels safer. Floor to ceiling windows can make us feel too exposed because everyone can see us.
We want our bedrooms to be like a safe cave.
Gardens are a big mood lift.
A water view is the best. Seeing some land is better than entirely water view, to avoid a subconscious fear of drowning. Being within a few stories of the street is better for socializing and feeling connected to the streetscape. People in penthouses on the top floor feel disconnected.
A rural view without water is equivalent to an urban view with water.
November 25, 2018
2.5. Good summary of thinking, but generally stating the bleeding obvious and little you won't already know: people like greenery; richer people live in nicer areas; academic studies in a lot of these areas are laughably feeble. Well meaning, but a bit underwhelming. Wanna book on cities and psychology? Jane Jacobs.
June 4, 2017
interesting read on how the home and our surroundings affect us
July 29, 2017
Loved it - very interesting!!
October 7, 2017
High street version of the Pattern Language.
February 22, 2018
Definitely a must-read for architecture and urbanism students in their first years of school.
April 13, 2018
It's kind of the hippy guide to architecture but still alright I guess.
July 28, 2018
Started off well, but it lost me when they started talking about Myers Briggs personality types and urban design. Nope.
June 5, 2022
Яркие референсы и наглядные примеры пригодились уже во время прочтения. По делу, практично и с опорой на факты и исследования.
November 29, 2022
Libro muy interesante sobre ciudades, urbanismo y cómo afecta a la calidad de vida de la gente.
May 14, 2020
Quantitative Review:
Contents/Information
Little-to-None
Brief (general)
Moderate ✅
Packed
Very Packed
Perspective of Contents
Objectively Scientific [scientific, include social sciences] ✅
Objectively Humanistic [for Humanities and Arts (HnA) field] ✅ (this book also include the discussion of aesthetics and general philosophy)
Subjectively Humanistic
Critical ✅
Subjectively Biased
Objectively/Scientifically Controversial ✅ (only a little though, a part of this book discuss about Myers-Briggs, but I assert it is not the author's fault to discuss about it. But rather the author explain it in brief so that the readers could understand the cited research evidence)
Subjectively/Humanistically Controversial
Opinionated
Anecdotal
Language style (vocabulary, voice)
Children's
Simple
Informal
Formal and Informal (middle)
Every day language ✅
Formal ✅
Academic ✅
High Level
Organization
Little-to-None
A little
Moderate
High ✅
Very High
Level of Comprehension (is it hard to comprehend the contents?)
Very low
Low
Medium ✅ (need a general knowledge of psychology to truly comprehend)
High
Very High
Contents/Information
Little-to-None
Brief (general)
Moderate ✅
Packed
Very Packed
Perspective of Contents
Objectively Scientific [scientific, include social sciences] ✅
Objectively Humanistic [for Humanities and Arts (HnA) field] ✅ (this book also include the discussion of aesthetics and general philosophy)
Subjectively Humanistic
Critical ✅
Subjectively Biased
Objectively/Scientifically Controversial ✅ (only a little though, a part of this book discuss about Myers-Briggs, but I assert it is not the author's fault to discuss about it. But rather the author explain it in brief so that the readers could understand the cited research evidence)
Subjectively/Humanistically Controversial
Opinionated
Anecdotal
Language style (vocabulary, voice)
Children's
Simple
Informal
Formal and Informal (middle)
Every day language ✅
Formal ✅
Academic ✅
High Level
Organization
Little-to-None
A little
Moderate
High ✅
Very High
Level of Comprehension (is it hard to comprehend the contents?)
Very low
Low
Medium ✅ (need a general knowledge of psychology to truly comprehend)
High
Very High
October 14, 2019
A very good read for architects, urban planners, urban managers, psychologist, city managers, and those who are interested to understand how their built environment affects their metal/health and physical behavior....
Read
November 18, 2022Mostly the book feels like telling the obvious things (OK, with psychology proves).
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