Responsive site design, user environmental perception and behaviour

Abstract

The disparity between success and failure in the performance of residential environments, in the way the built environment matched the fundamental requirements to support and satisfy human needs and values illustrates the gap between designers' intentions and their predicted and actual outcomes. This study emphasizes the need for bridging this gap, and arguas that usage of spaces expresses users' perception of environmental attributes, which originates behaviour patterns that reflect the match or mismatch of predictions and outcomes of design. ln order to investigate why and what design factors might be affecting the way those outdoor residential environments were perceived, evaluated and used by its residents, the research examined (a) the manner in which residents perceived and evaluated their built environment, (b) the influence environmental perception and evaluation might have on spatial behaviour, and (c) the design factors and attributes, present or absent in the environment, that might make environments more or less responsive to fulfill user needs. The research recognized the environmental features limiting the potential for responsiveness of outdoor residential environments by examining the extent to which the environment allows for the development of social and physical interactions, providing the residents with the necessary conditions to enable them to adapt to the environment and adjust the environment to their needs. To assess the potential for responsiveness, a system of measurement was proposed; identified design factors were grouped into three environmental attributes - degree of flexibility, legibility of layout and visual appearance. The effects that variations in the perceived limits of those attributes might have on environmental responsiveness were assessed through the investigation of a number of relationships between the three environmental attributes and spatial behaviour. The investigation was based on a comparative study of outdoor spaces in a sample of housing schemes, in Brazil. Key findings were that, contrary to conventional wisdom, degree of flexibility of site design does not play a leading role on affecting user evaluation of environmental performance nor on influencing social interaction among residents; the results indicated that, when modifications are made with the main purpose of improving an unsatisfactory environment, adverse effects can take place on social interaction. The effects of user perception of physical and symbolic attributes on user environmental evaluation were clear. Legibility of layout and visual appearance were confirmed to be of special importance in affecting the way the environment was perceived, evaluated and used by its residents. Moreover, the examination of the relationships between the physical and symbolic elements of visual appearance allowed the understanding of the ways in which spatial attributes affect user attitudes among residents and towards the environment, and the ways in which these attributes affect behaviour patterns. lt was found that residents evaluated visual appearance on the basis of their perception of the attributes that expressed or not their values, tastes and social attitudes.