This article reports seven new, original findings, based on 4 experiments, 56 environmental scenes, and 71 participants, on how the factors of area over which one could walk (boundary height, boundary porosity, and boundary proximity) influence perceived spaciousness or enclosure. Perceived spaciousness was most strongly related by the area over…

The nature of environmental perception and the relationship between perceived environmental change and environmental action are analyzed through four dimensions of environmental experience: the environment as external object, as representation of self, as embodiment of value, and as arena for action. (Author/MA)

Introduces this special issue devoted to the psychology of urban life by explaining the two approaches of study, the ecological and the sociostructural, and by briefly describing each paper presented. (MA)

Suggests that for each of the role-related identities of an individual, there are physical dimensions and characteristics that help to define and are subsumed by that identity. Argues that it is important to conceptualize place-identity as a specific component of each individual's self-identity. (Author/MA)

Presents a mathematical technique for building perceptual models of urban areas. Uses techniques to model perceptual neighborhoods within a city and to explore how residential burglary rates vary between the interiors and borders of the neighborhood. (Author/MA)

A perception of ecological psychology on urbanism is presented, with emphasis on the following premises: (1) Urban milieu consists of complexes of behavior settings; and (2) Size of a city should be understood in relationship to the number and variety of its settings, rather than in terms of population size. (Author/MA)

Concepts derived from general man-environment system (MES) models are applied to the specific problem of nomadic sedentarization. The analysis focuses on the manner in which residential mobility may function as a central element in nomadic cultures. (Author/MA)

Eye contact with a stranger was relatively rare in center-city Philadelphia, more common in a suburb, and very common in a small rural town. Speaking occurred only with eye contact. These results suggest that social interaction in the city is an adaptation to overload of interpersonal contacts. (Author/MA)

Reviews evidence which indicates that the sheer size of an urban center has important social and psychological consequences. Available literature suggests that size combined with structural differentiation is related to psychological and behavioral variables such as anomymity, deindividuation, deviance, personality development, and…

This study produced an empirical description of environmental quality in reference to residential use by taking item responses of 2,541 residents of the San Francisco Bay Area and subjecting them to factor analysis. Twenty factors which provide a definition of environmental quality were produced. (BT)