Design Implications of Spatial Research

Behavior setting analysis of situated learning: The case of newcomers

“…This effect was most significant for crowded newcomers. These results are in accord with studies by environmental psychologists (e.g., Evans, 1979), which indicate that placement of activities along a wall helps in coping with crowding. On the one hand, by staying in the peripheral zone one can look at the wall and there a newcomer can reduce eye contact with the other people in the room.…”

“…I then distinguished between squares belonging to a central zone encompassing the middle of the room and those belonging to a peripheral zone located along the physical boundaries (e.g., walls, shelves, information desk) of the room. Because architectural features of settings moderate people's behavior and their experiences (Evans, 1979;Fuhrer, 1987), I then counted how often a newcomer had entered a square of the central or one of the peripheral zone while dealing with the unfamiliar setting (see for more details Fuhrer, 1990b).…”

“…For example, rooms can be designed to enhance or to inhibit interpersonal distancing behaviors (e.g., by room barriers or furniture groupings that provide, to varying degrees, some privacy; cf. Evans, 1979). Because the conception of behavior settings includes physical, social, and behavioral components, it allows a comprehensive analysis of situated learning.…”

Crowding in Public Transport: A Review of Objective and Subjective Measures

“…However, in the broader literature, it has long been recognized that density can not fully capture the experience of individuals in a given space (Day and Day 1973;Evans 1979). A number of studies also claimed that the major limitation of using density as a crowding measure is a lack of consideration of individual perceptions of in-vehicle crowdedness (see, e.g., Turner et al 2004;Cox et al 2006).…”