Advances in Environment, Behavior and Design – serie

This fourth volume in the Advances in Environment, Behavior, and Design series continues the intent of earlier volumes by exploring new directions in the multidisciplinary environment-behavior (EB or EBS) field. The series is organized around a framework of theory, methods, research, and utilization that some say has defined the field for the past 15 years. This fourth volume is devoted to chapters that explore the integration of theory, quantitative and qualitative research, and utilization in policy, planning, and architec­ ture. The authors selected for this volume exemplify the multidisciplinary character of the field-they have been selected from architecture, environ­ mental psychology, environmental studies, housing research, landscape ar­ chitecture, social anthropology, social ecology, urban design, and urban planning; from academe and practice; and from Australia, Europe, and North America. HISTORY OF THE ADVANCES SERIES The idea for the series emerged in 1983 at meetings of the Board of Directors of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA). Sev­ eral publishers were contacted about the possibility of an EDRA Annual Review. Eliot Werner at Plenum Press expressed great interest but suggested that an Advances series would be more appropriate since publication could be tied to a less specific timetable. EDRA, Plenum, and the editors signed a contract in June 1984 for three volumes, with an open door for oral agreements between Plenum and the editors after that time. Four volumes have been published (Volume 1, 1987; Volume 2,1989; Volume 3,1991; and the current Volume 4), each containing 10 to 12 chapters.

This fourth volume in the Advances in Environment, Behavior, and Design series continues the intent of earlier volumes by exploring new directions in the multidisciplinary environment-behavior (EB or EBS) field. The series is organized around a framework of theory, methods, research, and utilization that some say has defined the field for the past 15 years. This fourth volume is devoted to chapters that explore the integration of theory, quantitative and qualitative research, and utilization in policy, planning, and architec­ ture. The authors selected for this volume exemplify the multidisciplinary character of the field-they have been selected from architecture, environ­ mental psychology, environmental studies, housing research, landscape ar­ chitecture, social anthropology, social ecology, urban design, and urban planning; from academe and practice; and from Australia, Europe, and North America. HISTORY OF THE ADVANCES SERIES The idea for the series emerged in 1983 at meetings of the Board of Directors of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA). Sev­ eral publishers were contacted about the possibility of an EDRA Annual Review. Eliot Werner at Plenum Press expressed great interest but suggested that an Advances series would be more appropriate since publication could be tied to a less specific timetable. EDRA, Plenum, and the editors signed a contract in June 1984 for three volumes, with an open door for oral agreements between Plenum and the editors after that time. Four volumes have been published (Volume 1, 1987; Volume 2,1989; Volume 3,1991; and the current Volume 4), each containing 10 to 12 chapters.

This second volume in the Advances in Environment, Behavior, and Design series follows the pattern of Volume 1. It is organized into six sections user group research, consisting of advances in theory, place research, sociobehavioral research, research and design methods, and research utilization. The authors of the chapters in this volume represent a range of disciplines, including architecture, geography, psychology, social ecology, and urban planning. They also offer international perspectives: Tommy Garling from Sweden, Graeme Hardie from South Africa (re­ cently relocated to North Carolina), Gerhard Kaminski from the Federal Republic of Germany, and Roderick Lawrence from Switzerland (for­ merly from Australia). Although most chapters address topics or issues that are likely to be familiar to readers (environmental perception and cognition, facility pro­ gramming, and environmental evaluation), four chapters address what the editors perceive to be new topics for environment, behavior, and design research. Herbert Schroeder reports on advances in research on urban for­ estry. For most of us the term forest probably conjures up visions of dense woodlands in rural or wild settings. Nevertheless, in many parts of the country, urban areas have higher densities of tree coverage than can be found in surrounding rural landscapes. Schroeder reviews re­ search that addresses the perceived and actual benefits and costs associ­ ated with these urban forests.

This third volume in Advances in Environment, Behavior, and Design fol­ lows the conceptual framework adopted in the previous two volumes (see the Preface to Volume 1, 1987). It is organized into five sections­ advances in theory, advances in place, user group, and sociobehavioral research, and advances in research utilization. The authors of this volume represent a wide spectrum of the multi­ disciplinary environment-behavior and design field including architec­ ture, environmental psychology, facility management, geography, human factors, sociology, and urban design. The volume offers interna­ tional perspectives from North America (Carole Despres from Canada, several authors from the U.S.), Europe (Martin Krampen from Germany, Martin Symes from England), and New Zealand (David Kernohan). More so than any of the previous volumes, they are drawn from both academia and professional practice. While there continues to be a continuity in format in the series, we are actively exploring new directions that are on the cutting edges of the field and bode well for a more integrated future. This volume will fur­ ther develop the themes of design and professional practice to comple­ ment the earlier emphases on theory, research, and methods.