IAPS BULLETIN Nº42

of People-Enviromental Studies WINTER 2015 - #42

Editors: Ricardo García Mira & Giuseppe Carrus

Defining new research agenDas from iaPs

iaPs Policy on suPPorting early career researchers

urban green sPace, Distribution anD accessibility

sense of Place

international orientation, cultural Values, anD Pro-enVironmental attituDes

the minDfulness Practice to foster enVironmentally releVant behaVior

cartograPhy of a festiVe state

http://www.iaps-association.org/


IAPS - BULLETIN 42 | WINTER 2015

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Submissions

Whilst we encourage all our members to submit material, any submission for inclusion in the Bulletin should be written to high standards of English grammar and punctuation. To help the review process, we kindly ask you have the material checked by a fluent English speaker before submitting it to the Bulletin.

Please, send your contributions for the next issue by e-mail to Ricardo García Mira, at the following address: [email protected]

All manuscripts should be written in Times New Roman 12 pt., double-spaced. The maximum word length for articles is 2000 words. Include names, affiliation and full contact details of all the authors. Editors

Ricardo García MiraGiuseppe Carrus

Editorial TeamAleya Abdel-HadiCorina IlinOmbretta RomiceKevin ThwaitesClare Twigger-Ross

Editorial CommitteeAngela CastrechiniArza ChurchmanJosé A. CorralizaTony CraigSandrine DepeauEdward EdgertonFerdinando FornaraBirgitta GatterslebenBernardo HernándezMaria JohansonFlorian KaiserPeter KellettMarketta KittaRoderick LawrenceJeanne MooreEnric PolMassimiliano ScopellitiHulya TurgutDavid Uzzell

Bulletin of People- Enviromental Studies.

Winter 2015 Number 42ISSN: 1301 - 3998

www.iaps-association.org

Instructions on how to become an IAPS member, or to renew your membership, are available on the IAPS webiste: iaps-association.org

International Association for People-Environment Studies aims to improve the physical environment and human well-being.

* Flickr user

Photo CreditsAll photographs included in this list are under a Creative Commons license: Attribution-noncommercial 3.0 Unported.

Cover: Atomium - Bruxelles, Belgium by Giorgio Galeotti*. Page 2: Recycle Bottles Cans by James Callan*. Page 5: 광주 by Al Case*.Page 8: Berlin Panorama by visitBerlin, Foto: Wolfgang Scholvien*.Page 9: Untitled by Estefanía Trisotti*.Page 9: Tempelhofer Feld by Bjoern85*.Page 9: Tempelhofer Feld by Simpel1*.Page 10: Herbst in Berlinby visitBerlin, Wolfgang Scholvien*.Page 11: Frühling in Berlin by visitBerlin, Wolfgang Scholvien*.Page 13: Victoria Park by visitBerlin, Philip Koschel*.Page 14: Tempelhofer Feld (1) by visitBerlin, Philip Koschel*.Page 21: Mural by silverfuki*.Page 22: Forward on Climate 19811 by tedeytan*.Page 22: Front side of Bodice work-in-progress by Urban Woodswalker*.

Page 23: Vigil - Northfield, MAby Step It Up 2007*.Page 26: Faith Contingent & Unitarian Universalists by Peter.Bowden*.Page 26: Consumption is mushrooming by Liz | populational*.Page 26: Recycle Reduce Reuse by kevin dooley*.Page 26: Colorful Recycling Containers for Trash by epSos.de*.Page 27: Meditation by mrhayata*.Page 28: Earth by bark*.Page 33: Sábado en Cans2014 by Festival de Cans, Alberto Pérez Barahona*.Page 34: sala1_entrada by Festival de Cans, Fátima R. Sío*.Page 34: Sábado en Cans2014 by Festival de Cans, Alberto Pérez Barahona*.Page 35: Cansonoro by Festival de Cans, Alberto Pérez Barahona*.Page 39: @ Fortaleza, CE, Brazil by carlosoliveirareis*.Page 39: Colonia Napoles by ruimc77*.Page 44: La Alhambra by Juandalfweb*.


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mailto:[email protected]

mailto: [email protected]




IAPS Board 2012-2015

The IAPS Board is now structured into four workgroups, each with a lead responsible member.

Management Responsible: Ricardo García Mira (President).

Members: Giuseppe Carrus (Secretary), Clare Twigger-Ross (Treasurer), Seungkwang Shon (Membership/Listserve) and Tony Craig (Website). Tasks: finances, membership, profile, constitution, elections, meetings,

conference voting, general liaison, and the public face of IAPS.

Published OutputsResponsible: Ricardo García Mira (Bulletin).

Members: Giuseppe Carrus (Bulletin), Claudia Andrade (Newsletter), Tony Craig (Website) and Ian Simkins (Website).

Tasks: bulletin, website, newsletter, bibliography, publicity.

Conference related activitiesResponsible: Sigrun Kabisch (Conference Support, YRW).

Members: Petra Schweizer-Ries (Conference Support, YRW) and Claudia Andrade (YRW). Tasks: Young Researchers Workshop, Hall of Fame, conference support.

NetworksResponsibles: Kevin Thwaites and Ian Simkins.

Members: Karina Landeros (Networks). Tasks: Iaps networks coordination.

Ricardo García Mira, President

University of A Coruña Spain

Giuseppe Carrus, Secretary

University of Roma TreItaly

Clare Twigger-Ross, Treasurer

Collingowood Environmental Planning Ltd.UK

Tony Craig, Website, Membership

The James Hutton InstituteScotland, UK

Claudia Andrade, Website, Newsletter

YRW. Lisbon University InstitutePortugal

Ian Simkins, Website, Networks

Experiemics, Experiential Landscape ResearchUK

Petra Schweizer-Ries, Membership

Conference support, YRW.Bochum University of Applied Sciences,Germany

Kevin Thwaites, Networks

University of SheffieldUK

Sigrun Kabisch, Conference support, YRW

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental ResearchGermany

Seungkwang Shon, Membership

Dongshin UniversitySouth Korea

Karina Landeros, Networks

National Autonomous University of Mexico

Caroline Hagerhall, Membership

Swedish University of Agricultural SciencesSweden


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Bulletin Summarytoc

Presidential address (R. García Mira)

P. 6

6

urban green sPace, Distribution anD accessibility

Urban green space, distribution and accessibility in Berlin, Germany (N. Kabisch)

7

P. 7-14

sense of Place

Sense of Place as the major variable that influences user responses in social housing states (A. Portella)

15

P. 15-19

international orientation, cultural Values, anD Pro-enVironmental attituDes

International Orientation, Cultural Values, and Pro-environmental Attitudes: A Brief Progress Report (D. D. Kerkman)

20

P. 20-23

the minDfulness Practice to foster enVironmentally releVant behaVior

The mindfulness practice to foster environmentally relevant behavior(A. Panno, F. Maricchiolo, G. Carrus)

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P. 24-28

cartograPhy of a festiVe state

Cartography of a festive state. The agreement of Cans (J. C. Andrade, I. C. Patiño, A. A. Blanco)

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P. 29-36

iaPs

IAPS policy on supporting the participation of early career researchers in research meetings

37

P. 37-38

steP3

Third summer school for Theories in Environmental Psychology at Alghero, Sardinia (Italy)

45

P. 45-47

news 2015

2015 APNHR Conference News “Housing 2.0: Search for New Paradigms for Collaborative Housing” Next IAPS Annual General Meeting

4344

P. 43-44

news 2014

Disseminating IAPS in Latin AmericaSymbiotic life, science and technologyCooperating with the European Commission in building research agendas

394142

P. 39-42


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http://issuu.com/action/page?page=6
















































Presidential address,by Ricardo García Mira

It is now ten months since the Timisoara Conference, where the new IAPS board, which I am honored to chair, launched a new cycle, implementing many of the ideas and initiatives that are now enabling us, in addition to expanding the number of members, to keep our organization alive, streamlining its processes and adapting to changing times. In this adaptation, information and communications technologies are providing increasingly greater connection among us, greater promotion of collaborative work and greater access to information, unthinkable just a few decades ago. So we are updating the website of IAPS, which will soon be operational. We are trying to enhance the operation of research networks, providing spaces for connection and coordination through the new website, which allow IAPS members to be aware of what is happening in each network.

Another objective of our work program is to improve our policy to support young researchers. In this regard, the board of IAPS has just approved its “IAPS Policy on supporting the participation of early career researchers in research meetings”, which is published in this issue.

The 24th IAPS conference is underway. It will be in Lund and Alnarp in southern Sweden in 2016, from June 27 to July 1, under the topic “The human being at home, work and leisure - Sustainable use and development of indoor and outdoor spaces in late modern everyday life”. The first Call for Papers is now close, and will be published in the next issue.

Finally, in an attempt to seek the recognition of IAPS in different sectors of the European Commission, we have been promoting a policy of dissemination of our research networks and our research activities in different DGs of the EC, in order to help promote the work of IAPS and build new research agendas from the research that is carried out in our organization.

Furthermore, this has been a long winter in which many of you have enjoyed entrance to IAPS for the first time, others are continuing with, or have already had your Viva exam for your Master’s degree or PhD, some of which we had the opportunity to discover during the Young Researchers’ Workshop at the last Conference. Others, more experienced, have initiated or completed new research projects, publications, and organized diverse activities. And yet others have settled into their new jobs, or moved to other universities and research centers. To all of them we wish you every success in your work, and do not forget to send us your project summaries, completed investigations, summaries of results, theses abstracts, book reviews, and news to spread in this Bulletin.

But this winter has also had its cold spots, such as the death of one of our most distinguished members, and the best known and loved by all environmental psychologists, Professor Terence Lee. His death is a huge loss to our profession. Terence was among the pioneers of environmental psychology in Europe, applying knowledge of psychology to urban issues, conceptualizing neighborhoods with all their socio-spatial and psychological characteristics. He was the founder, together with David Canter, of the Environmental Psychology Group at the University of Surrey, which formed so many generations of psychologists, architects and other professionals worldwide in the Master’s degree in Environmental Psychology which they launched from Guildford. All of us who wanted to learn by drinking from the sources of what is known about how to apply psychological theory to everyday life in urban contexts were there at some point in time. I was there in 1992, during a pre-doctoral stay when doing my thesis on the environmental psychology of neighborhoods in A Coruña; he had already moved to St. Andrews, but had left a noticeable imprint in Surrey. I kept this picture, when we met in Rome in 2002, thanks to our participation in the Italian conference of environmental psychology. Rest in peace.


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INTRODUCTION

In 2014, more than 54 per cent of the world’s population lived in cities (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2014). Six years after the United Nations announced that now globally, more people live in urban than in rural areas the urban percentage increased even more and will continue to increase. Projections suggest that by 2050 around 65% of the global population will be urban. Next to population increase, global urban land area is expected to grow at a faster rate. Estimations showed that urban landwill increase by 1.5 Mio. km2 by 2030 compared to 0.7 Mio. km2 in 2001 (Seto, Fragkias, Güneralp, & Reilly, 2011). Urbanization is therefore intrinsically connected to urban land area expansion, which is translated into a need to provide new housing developments for more city residents (Haase, Kabisch, & Haase, 2013). Initial processes of urbanization and land take are further connected with negative challenges for the environment and for city residents. These negative challenges include increase levels

of noise, air pollution and the decrease of urban green spaces. Challenges for a sustainable urban development will, thus, be increasingly important in cities. These challenges, however, might present great opportunities for sustainable urban management if development practices and integrated policy incorporate quality of life improvements through equitable provision of urban green spaces. Urban green spaces are highly relevant for health and wellbeing of the urban residents (for an overview see an extensive review by Kabisch, Qureshi, & Haase (2015). A number of studies deal with the positive characteristics of urban green spaces that are beneficial for the urban population, such as by regulating the urban climate through temperature reductions (Lafortezza, Carrus, Sanesi, & Davies, 2009; Yu & Hien, 2006) or air purification (Escobedo & Nowak, 2009). Interdisciplinary studies combining ecological and social science methods refer to mental and physical improvements of the urban population through cultural services of urban green spaces. That could be the provision of spaces for recreation and social interaction (Kabisch & Haase, 2014; Smith, Nelischer, & Perkins, 1997) or the experiential learning about the natural environment (Irvine, Warber, Devine-Wright, & Gaston, 2013). Further, a number of studies showed a measurable, positive psychological health effect when urban residents have contact with nature (Völker & Kistemann, 2013), particularly with high levels of biodiversity (Dallimer et al., 2012). Urban green spaces

Urban green space distribution and accessibility

in Berlin, Germany

Nadja Kabisch

Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin. This work is part of the URBES BiodivERsA project (www.urbesproject.org).

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

[email protected]


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http://www.urbesproject.org


which are have a certain amount and quality and which are accessible in the near residential environment have proven to be incredibly beneficial for elderly people (Barbosa et al., 2007). However, accessibility could be limited for some vulnerable population groups such as immigrants or elderly people (Kazmierczak & James, 2007). The city of Berlin in Germany is one example of a city with population growth in the developed world. As the largest city of the country, Berlin is today home to 3.5 million inhabitants.Population increase in the last decade has coincided with an increase in the size of residential areas and puts pressure on green spaces. In this research report quantitative results of urban green space distribution and accessibility in Berlin are presented and discussed against projected developments of population number and residential area.

THE CASE STUDY BERLIN

– A DEVELOPING CITY

Berlin is situated in the eastern part of Germany and its administrative boundaries extend over a region of moret han 89,000 ha. Berlin’s population is estimated to have increased to

3,421,829 inhabitants by 2013 (Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg, 2014, Table 1). More than half a million inhabitants are immigrants. Total population growth in Berlin over the last decade was accompanied by an 18% increase in residential area while urban green spaces including public green spaces and forest areas increased at a lower extent by only 3%. Population projections predict an increase of 254,000 additional inhabitants by 2030, which will particularly increase urban development by raising the demand for housing (around 137,000 new flats are planned by 2030). Thus, Berlin faces significant environmental uncertainties, particularly due to the predicted residential development but also due to climate change. Processes related to climate change have resulted in more frequent summer heat waves, droughts and higher air temperatures in the city in the last years. Concerning urban green spaces, the city contains public green spaces and forest areas which represent more than 30% of the city area. They include parks (>10 ha), private yards, allotments, cemeteries, recreational areas, sport grounds and street green. The largest urban green space in Berlin

is Tempelhof, the former city airport. This is one example where changing land use has created a large green space in the city with an area of more than 300 ha (as a reference point, NewYork City’s Central park is 500 ha). Although unique in Berlin, Tempelhof represents the experience of many old industrialized cities where inner city transport areas or large water fronts have been converted to other land uses. Situated 5 km south of Berlin’s city center but still accessible by the rapid transit system (Figure 1), Tempelhof was opened for public use in May 2010 and is visited by more than 10,000 persons on warm summer days (Grün Berlin GmbH, 2012). The area contains huge public green spaces surrounded by sealed surfaces used for cycling, running and skating. Green spaces are mainly lawns and include specific areas for nature conservation, and some smaller areas for barbeque, picnicking or dogs. The outer parts contain trees while the main walking trail areas have no coverage. The green space, however, helps the city to adapt to and mitigate climate change and related heat stress, mainly through night time cooling in the open spaces and through fresh air corridors on the outer parts.

Table 1. Demographic and spatial characteristics of Berlin for 2000 and 2013.

Population number

household number

migration balance

green space (ha)

residential area (ha)

individuals aged ≥ 65 years

immigrants

2000 3,382,169 1,822,800 -18,857 27,266 18,023 491,054 435,117

2013 3,421,829 1,932,500 44,093 28,143 21,279 666,839 538,729

Change (%) 1.17 6.02 - 3.22 18.07 35.80 23.81


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Figure 1. Land cover of the large urban green space Tempelhofer Feld based on Urban Atlas data (reference year 2006, European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional Policy). The photo shows a part of lawns of THF used for recreation in summer 2014.


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A METHOD TO QUANTIFY SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL

JUSTICE IN BERLIN

A multi-method approach was used to assess the distribution of and access to urban green space in Berlin (Figure 2). Two special levels were addressed: a district level for the whole city including Berlin’s 60 sub-districts and a site level with the focus on a large urban green space in Berlin: the Tempelhofer Feld (Figure 1). A number of different GIS and statistical methods were applied including a hierarchical cluster analysis to identify clusters of districts with significantly different socio-demographic characteristics and simultaneously differing urban green space distribution. The standardized variables share of UGS, population density, percentage of immigrant sand percentage of addresses situated in a residential area classified as “simple residential area” (defined as areas with continuous urban fabric and rather bad building conditions with nearly no renovation). The selection of these variables is based on their importance of indicating possible areas with diverging land uses and demographics. The cluster analysis was conducted in SPSS20, based on WARD-Method with squared Euclidian distance.Data stem from the statistical offices of Berlin-Brandenburg For the site level, a GIS buffering was applied to calculate all residents living in a 500 m or 1500 distance to the green space Tempelhofer Feld entrances. Those threshold distances were used because they represent those provided by Berlin’s Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment. Further, the results of the calculation were compared with results from a visitor’s survey conducted by a service company of the Federal State Berlin – Grün Berlin GmbH – in 2011. The distance of 500m was used because the Berlin’s Department of Urban Development and the Environment recommends that every resident should have access to UGS of minimum 0.5 ha within a 500m distance from home. Similarly, a radius of 1500 m is the recommended catchment area for a large urban green space of at least 50 ha (Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt, 2012) (Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt, 2012b). In addition the threshold value for per capita urban green space is given with 6m² per inhabitant.

GREEN SPACE AND POPULATION

DISTRIBUTION IN BERLIN

In 2014, most of the 60 sub-districts in Berlin meet the threshold value of 6 m² urban green space per capita (Figure 3). However, quantitatively urban green space is not equally distributed over the total city area. Notably inner city sub-districts have smaller per capita urban green space values than the outer city sub-districts. Districts near the southeastern border of Berlin contain large amounts of more than 1000 ha and show per capita values of more than 35 m² or even more. The hierarchical cluster analysis with 60 sub-districts was conducted to identify clusters of districts with significantly different socio-demographic characteristics and simultaneously differing values of urban green space provision. The cluster analysis identifies three significant clusters (Figure 4). A table below the figure provides an overview of mean parameter values of the variables forming each cluster and shows a comparison of the mean values to the city average. Cluster 1 comprises 27 districts and therefore appears to have the highest number of sub-districts. In this Cluster, mean values of all variables are below the city average. The sub-districts of Cluster 1 are distributed over the whole city area. The 14 sub-districts included in Cluster 2 represent a very high share of urban green space of more than 52% compared to the city average of 23%. However, population density and percentage of immigrants are comparative low. Sub-districts of Cluster 2 are located along the city border at the outer parts of the city. Cluster 3 comprises 19 sub-districts and shows the highest population density (12,515inh./km2), which doubles the city average, but contains only 11% of the city’s urban green space. Percentage of immigrants is significantly high in Cluster 3 as is also the share of addresses in simple residential area. Spatial distribution of sub-districts shows that in Cluster 3 the sub-districts are situated with in the inner city as ring around the center. Overall, the distribution of the clusters and the mean values ofthe variables confirm that environmental quality varies across the city.


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Figure 2. Methodological approach.

Figure 3. Per capita urban green space in the sub-districts of Berlin.


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ACCESS TO THE LARGE URBAN

GREEN SPACE TEMPELHOF

The results of the GIS-buffer analysis show that due to its strategic location, Tempelhof is easily accessible for more than 25,000 inhabitants who live within a 500 m distance from the park entrances and for more than 180,000 inhabitants who live within a distance of 1,500 m from park entrances. This means that around 5% of the

city population can directly benefit from the ecological and recreational services provided by Tempelhof (Table 2). In addition, nearly 12% of older individuals and 27% of immigrants live in the catchment area. The results of the questionnaire survey from Grün-Berlin GmbH suggest a slightly different picture. Most visitors are aged 18 to≤65 years (80.6%), while older individuals visit

the area less frequently (6%). This does not match the population of the catchment area. Within the 500 m catchment, 10.5% of the population is aged≥65 years and within 1500 m, 11.7% of the population is aged≥65 years. Only 9% of survey participants were immigrant residents, where as 27% of individuals within the 1500 m catchment were immigrants (again, Table 2).

Table 2. Results of the GIS-buffer analysis to identify potential visitors to THF compared to the results from the local survey in 2011.

Distance to park entrances

500m 1500m

survey

grün-berlin

gmbh

Potential of visitors total (inhabitants) 25.645 180.625

Percentage of immigrants (%) 27.90 26.71 12.0

Percentage of residents aged 65 and older (%) 10.52 11.70 8.5

Figure 4. Results of the cluster analysis for 60 sub-districts of Berlin.

cluster 1 cluster 2 cluster 3 total city

Share of urban green space (%) 16.1 52.7 10.9 23.0

Population density (inh./km²) 4,270 1,764 12,515 6,297

Share of immigrants (%) 8.2 7.0 21.2 12.0

Share of simple residents (%) 24.0 18.9 34.1 26

Number of cases 27 14 19 60


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• Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg. (2014). Statistisches Jahrbuch 2014 Berlin.• Barbosa, O., Tratalos, J., Armsworth, P., Davies, R., Fuller, R., Johnson, P., &

Gaston, K. (2007). Who benefits from access to green space? A case study from Sheffield, UK. Landscape and Urban Planning, 83(2-3), 187–195. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2007.04.004

• Dallimer, M., Irvine, K. N., Skinner, A. M. J., Davies, Z. G., Rouquette, J. R., Maltby, L. L., … Gaston, K. J. (2012). Biodiversity and the Feel-Good Factor: Understanding Associations between Self-Reported Human Well-being and Species Richness. BioScience, 62(1), 47–55. doi:10.1525/bio.2012.62.1.9

• Escobedo, F. J., & Nowak, D. J. (2009). Spatial heterogeneity and air pollution removal by an urban forest. Landscape and Urban Planning, 90(3-4), 102–110.

• Gobster, P. H. (1998). Urban parks as green walls or green magnets? Interracial relations in neighborhood boundary parks. Landscape and Urban Planning, 41(1), 43–55. doi:10.1016/S0169-2046(98)00045-0

• Grün Berlin GmbH. (2012). Berlin-Tempelhof: Visitor monitoring 2011 (p. 20). Retrieved from http://www.gruen-berlin.de/fileadmin/used_files/Infomaterial/Tempelhof/Besuchermonitoring_2011_Zusammenfassung.pdf?PHPSESSID=0f16fe32c2a621f16cb3818d199f88a5

• Haase, D., Kabisch, N., & Haase, A. (2013). Endless urban growth? On the mismatch of population, household and urban land area growth and its effects on the urban debate. PloS One, 8(6), e66531. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066531

• Irvine, K. N., Warber, S. L., Devine-Wright, P., & Gaston, K. J. (2013). Understanding urban green space as a health resource: a qualitative comparison of visit motivation and derived effects among park users in Sheffield, UK. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(1), 417–42. doi:10.3390/ijerph10010417

• Kabisch, N., & Haase, D. (2014). Green justice or just green? Provision of urban green spaces in Berlin, Germany. Landscape and Urban Planning, 122, 129–139. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.11.016

• Kabisch, N., Qureshi, S., & Haase, D. (2015). Human–environment interactions in urban green spaces — A systematic review of contemporary issues and prospects for future research. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 50, 25–34. doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2014.08.007

• Kazmierczak, A., & James, P. (2007). The role of urban green spaces in improving social inclusion. In 7th International Postgraduate Research Conference in the Built and Human Environment., 28th - 29th March 2007, University of Salford, Greater Manchester.

• Lafortezza, R., Carrus, G., Sanesi, G., & Davies, C. (2009). Benefits and well-being perceived by people visiting green spaces in periods of heat stress. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 8(2), 97–108. doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2009.02.003

• Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt. (2012). Environmental Atlas. Retrieved December 06, 2012, from http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/umwelt/umweltatlas/d605_01.htm

• Seto, K. C., Fragkias, M., Güneralp, B., & Reilly, M. K. (2011). A Meta-Analysis of Global Urban Land Expansion. PLoS ONE, 6(8), 1–9. doi:10.1371/Citation

• Smith, T., Nelischer, M., & Perkins, N. (1997). Quality of an urban community: a framework for understanding the relationship between quality and physical form. Landscape and Urban Planning, 39(2-3), 229–241. doi:10.1016/S0169-2046(97)00055-8

• United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, P. D. (2014). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/352).

• Völker, S., & Kistemann, T. (2013). “I’m always entirely happy when I’m here!” Urban blue enhancing human health and well-being in Cologne and Düsseldorf, Germany. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 78, 113–24. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.09.047

• Yu, C., & Hien, W. N. (2006). Thermal benefits of city parks. Energy and Buildings, 38(2), 105–120. doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2005.04.003

References

CONCLUSION In our analysis of UGS in Berlin, we found that in most of the sub-districts, residents have access to sufficient UGS in their vicinity using the threshold value of 6 m²b per person. However, at least some of the inner city sub-districts with relatively high percentages of immigrants and high population density have disproportionate less access to UGS. In the case of Tempelhof, it was shown that people belonging to the age group of≥65 years wereless present in the park compared to the shares in the catchmentareas. The reason for this “underuse” by older individuals may also be found in the current infrastructure of the park: the green space Tempelhof contains large areas of lawns but nearly no trees, which could provide shade. In addition, the supply of seating and eating areas is still to be developed. Such “passive use areas” (Gobster, 1998, p.51) are found to be especially important for older individuals. From the analysis it can be concluded that a combined approach using a sub-district city level combined with a site-specific level is beneficial for the assessment of green space related indicators and quality of life. In particular green spaces are vital for the well-being of city residents as they can influence their health and quality of life (Kabisch et al., 2015). In very dense cities or parts of a city, a certain amount of urban green space and the unrestricted access to them by all population groups should be considered in further urban planning. In Berlin, this should notably be reflected in those districts with comparatively less green space, high population densities and mostly simple residential areas. Against the background of an increasing demographic change affecting cities, elderly people should also be on the focus when it comes to planning for a just and accessible green city. Those vulnerable groups of the elderly may benefit most from high quality and good accessible green spaces of a certain size.


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http://www.gruen-berlin.de/fileadmin/used_files/Infomaterial/Tempelhof/Besuchermonitoring_2011_Zusammenfassung.pdf%3FPHPSESSID%3D0f16fe32c2a621f16cb3818d199f88a5



http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/umwelt/umweltatlas/d605_01.htm

http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/umwelt/umweltatlas/d605_01.htm



Adriana Portella

Professor at the School of Architecture and Urbanism at the Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil

Post-Doctoral in Planning at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, UK

PhD in Urban Design at Oxford Brookes University, UK

[email protected]

This report attempts to understand what makes a place recognized by users as good to live in, considering user evaluation not only of the physical aspects of the streetscape, but of the symbolical variables involved in the concept of sense of place. The definition of sense of place comprises here the strong relationships that can exist between people and a particular location in terms of attachment and familiarity with the place and the people who live there.

Nowadays, the Brazilian government has been applying large funds to build social housing estates to accommodate people who have been removed from their residential areas due to the projects related to the World Cup 2014 and the Olympic games 2016. The main problems for these new housing estates are that they are located far away from the place where people used to live, and they do not take into account any guideline to create places that are attractive for their users regarding the aesthetics of buildings or urban design of public areas (Figure 1). There is agreement in the literature that complexity is a necessary condition for satisfaction. Venturi (1977) and Berlyne (1960) were the first researchers to explore the principle of complexity in urban streetscapes. Venturi confronted ideas related to modernist architecture which promoted places with low complexity, while Berlyne addressed the same propositions as Venturi, but in an approach which attempted to identify variables that may result in places being perceived positively. At the same period, Kaplan’s work (1976) already identified negative implications of environments perceived as too complex or

Figure 1: A view of a standard social housing estate built by the Federal Government in Brazil (Source: author).

Sense of Place as the majorvariable that influences user

responses in social housing states


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too monotonous on user behaviour, such as difficult wayfinding due to too high or too low visual stimulations and lack of interest. Weber (1995) and Lang (1987) show that, according to user perception and evaluation, there is a strong relationship between the affective dimensions of ‘pleasure’ and ‘interest’ with complexity. Although these evidences are well-known, the new social housing states promoted by the Federal Government in Brazil are marked by low variation and total monotony, creating in this way places not perceived positively by their users. In this context, this study is developed in the field of Environmental Psychology in order to understand through the user’s perception and cognition what makes a place feel like home for people. According to Nicholas Meader, David Uzzell and Birgitta Gatersleben (2006, p.61): ‘people do not perceive the environment through clear eyes, but through perceptual lenses coloured by their world view’. In this approach, user perception involves more than a mere intellectual association related to an observed object; this is also linked with the cognitive process from the outset. It is intended that this report can bring a discussion about the production of social housing in Brazil conducting this in a much better direction than it has been so far. This investigation is very concerned with the gap that exists between academy studies and the results produced by professional practices.

OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

The objective here is to identify whether there is a relationship between users´ perceptions and evaluations of the visual quality of their neighbourhood, and users´ behaviours and mood, examining

how different types of streetscapes influence people’s quality of life. The research question investigated was: ‘Are people more satisfied with their neighbourhood in a high- income neighbourhood with a more ordered streetscape and better infrastructure and urban design, or it does not matter and the sense of place is the key to having dynamic neighbourhoods?’. The city chosen as a case study was Pelotas, on the south coast of Brazil, near Uruguay and Argentina. The city comprises neighbourhoods with a strong historic heritage but is marked by high social differences between these places. Three neighbourhoods were selected for this analysis as the purpose was to compare the responses of the residents (A) in a low-income neighbourhood located near the main water canal of the city, (B) in a middle-income neighbourhood located in the port area of the city which has been regenerated by the insertion of university buildings, and (C) in a high-income neighbourhood located in a new area considered to have one of the most expensive land values of the city (Figure 2). These areas are named ‘Balsa’ (low-income neighbourhood), ‘Porto’ (middle-income neighbourhood) and ‘Zona Norte’ (high-income neighbourhood). The following methods of data collection were adopted to answer the research question: (i) a literature review of primary and secondary sources about historical, social and compositional aspects of each neighbourhood; (ii) systematic observation of physical characteristics of building facades, infrastructure and urban design in each of the three neighbourhood; (iii) informal interviews; and (iv) questionnaires with 19 closed questions. The sample was

randomly selected, 90 respondents in total. The researchers stopped people on the streets and knocked on their doors asking whether the residents would like to participate in this survey. The survey lasted about two weeks. Non-parametric tests and mean values were adopted to analyse the data obtained from the questionnaires. The analysis of informal interviews, which were configured as conversations between the researchers and the interviewees, when they were filling out the questionnaire, proved crucial as it allowed the researchers to understand variables that if it were not for the interviews would not be identified, such as the sense of neighbourhood. The only prerequisite to being part of this survey was to live in one of the neighbourhoods analysed and to be at least 18 years old.

MAIN RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results indicate that the majority of users from each neighbourhood like to live there, and the main reasons for that were (i) in Zona Norte (the high-income neighbourhood) almost 50% of residents mentioned the proximity with services and commerce such as a bakery, bus stop and drugstore, (ii) in Balsa (the low-income neighbourhood) 60% of residents said that it is because friends and family live nearby, and (iii) in Porto (the middle-income neighbourhood) people were divided between three main reasons: 10.3% of users mentioned the appearance of buildings, 20.7% the proximity to services and commerce, and 17.2% the fact that friends and family live nearby. It shows that, even in the area where the full access to infrastructure and urban design are issues that are not provided by the local authority (in the low-income neighbourhood), the

Figure 2: Neighbourhoods analysed in the city of Pelotas (Source: author).


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proximity to family and friends creates a network between residents in this area, that makes them like to live there, promoting a sense of place. The natural landscape is very noticeable in Balsa (low-income neighbourhood), however it did not appear as a variable that influence on people´s emotional state; sense of place was the predominant issue. Considering the total sample (90 respondents), there is a correlation between building appearance and users´ interests with the streetscape (Spearman= 0.479, sig=0,000), and a correlation between users´ interests with the streetscape and users´ moods (Spearman= 0.514, sig=0.000). The following tendencies were verified: ‘The more beautiful the buildings´ appearance, the more interesting is the neighbourhood; and the more interesting the neighbourhood, the livelier the residents felt’. The majority of users from Zona Norte (73.3%) and Porto (56.7%) evaluate the buildings of their neighbourhoods as ‘very beautiful’ or ‘beautiful’, while in Balsa 30% of users share this same view and 66.7% of users classify the buildings as ‘not beautiful but not very ugly’. Regarding perception of interest, the majority of respondents in Porto (86.2%) and Zona Norte (86.2%) evaluate the streetscape of these areas as ‘very interesting’ or ‘interesting’, while in Balsa 43.3% of users share this same view and 53.4% of users evaluated this as ‘neither interesting, nor not interesting’ or ‘not interesting’. When analysing the responses of residents in the low-income

neighbourhood separable, a correlation between users mood and users´ interest with the streetscape was found (Spearman= 0.594, sig=0.001), and between users mood and the buildings´ appearance (Spearman: 0.598, sig=0.001): The more beautiful the buildings´ appearance and more interesting the neighbourhood, the calmer and livelier the user will feel’. In this sense, even when they say that they like to live in this area of the city, the results show that the quality of life of these residents in terms of emotion state can be improved by the requalification of buildings’ appearance and interest in the streetscape. The literature review already said that to increase users´ interest in the streetscape, the best factor to be considered is the increasing of urban complexity with the variation of the physical aspect of buildings, urban furniture, and other elements that compose the street scene. At the same time, the majority of users in Balsa say that they feel cheerful (53.4%) and calm (51.7%) when walking in their neighbourhood, and ‘very well’ and ‘well’ when arrive at home (83.3%). When asking about how people feel when they come back to their neighbourhood, 69% of users from Balsa feel ‘very happy’ or ‘happy’, while in the high-income neighbourhood just 55.5% feel the same and 40.3% do not have opinion in relation to this issue. It is important to highlight that 86.7% of users who answer the questionnaire live more than 10 years in Balsa, while in the other two areas

...in neighbourhoods of higher social

and economic classes, this variable

– a sense of place – was lost during the

design process

Figure 3: It is common in the low-income neighbourhood see residents meeting in front of their homes (Source: author).


17

43.3% of users live more than 10 years. This factor had a significant impact on the results obtained, as familiarity with the neighbourhood and the sense of place created in the area through the social networks established between people influence users’ evaluation of their neighbourhood and users’ moods (Figure 3). The content analysis of the interviews identified that the majority of people who live in the high-income neighbourhood are quite satisfied with this place, but at the same time they are very dissatisfied with safety issues. It was possible to identify that they feel unsafe walking the streets and going into their houses, and they do not know the majority of their neighbours; consequently they do not use the public space very much due to these problems. On the other hand, people who live in the low-income neighbourhood are satisfied with their residential area because of what the literature recognizes as a ‘sense of place’. According to the majority of residents in the low-income neighbourhood, they are happy with this area because of the symbolic meanings attached to the place. The visual order of the physical environment did not come out as a

variable that influences user happinnes in this case. The main results show that order in formal composition of facades, urban design and infrastructure are variables that influence quality of life; however, in the low-income neighbourhood the impact of a psychological sense of community and neighbourly relations are more important than the aesthetic of buildings when considering the influence on the mood and emotional state of residents. Residents in Balsa tend to be happier and less stressed than residents of the other neighbourhoods, who mostly are concerned about security issues, lack of maintenance of buildings due to graffiti and poor lighting conditions (Figure 4). In this context, the sense of place proves to be an important factor in this neighbourhood, and should be considered in proposals for new social housing (Figures 5, 6 and 7). Unfortunately, in neighbourhoods of higher social and economic classes, this variable – a sense of place - was lost during the design process, and the consequence was the creation of environments that do not encourage social interaction in public space and generate feelings of insecurity in the streetscape.

The results put in doubt the importance of visual order on user satisfaction with residential areas as the only important issue. The majority of people who live in the low-income neighbourhood are very satisfied with their residential area because of what the literature recognizes as ‘a sense of place’. It is hoped that the discussion found in this study brings to the academic field the importance of social relations in the sphere of public life, neighbourhood and city. It is hoped that architects, planners and urban designers are aware that, before starting the design process of residential areas. It is important to identify the intangible variables that build a sense of community and neighbourhood. As already said by Prost (1992, p.116), the sense of place connects neighbourhood residents in an intensive network of urban and social relations summarized as: ‘in fact, there is more than a mutual knowledge: there is a social contact. Each resident of a neighbourhood or village receives a certain attention from their neighbour, since they pay the price. They will receive small rewards such as smiles, greetings, exchanges of nice words, a feeling of being known, recognized, and appreciated’.

Figure 4: The lost of sense of place is reflected by fences and lack of people walking in the streets.


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• Berlyne, D.E. (1960). Conflict, Arousal and Curiosity. New York: McGraw-Hill.• Herzog, T.R., Kaplan, S. and Kaplan, R. (1976). “The Prediction of Preference for Familiar

Urban Places”, Environment and Behavior, 8(4), pp.627–645.• Lang, J. (1987). Creating Architectural Theory: The Role of the Behavioral Sciences in

Environmental Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.• Meader, N., Uzzell, D. and Gatersleben, B. (2006). “Cultural Theory and Quality of Life,

European Review of Applied Psychology, 56(1), pp.61–69.

• Prost, A.; Vincent, G. (1992). História da vida privada: da primeira guerra aos nossos dias. Vol V. São Paulo, Cia das Letras.

• Venturi, R. (1977). Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. London: Architectural Press.

• Weber, R. (1995). On the Aesthetics of Architecture: A Psychological Approach to the Structure and the Order of Perceived Architectural Space. Aldershot: Ashgate.

References

Figure 6: Balsa - Low-income neighbourhood analysed in this study (Source: author).

Figure 5: View of the low-income neighbourhood, where residents meeting up in the streets (Source: author).

Figure 7: Balsa - Low-income neighbourhoodanalysed in this study (Source: author).


19

Dennis D. Kerkman

Author Note: This research was supported in part by a grant from the Park University Faculty Development Endowment Fund to Professors Dennis D. Kerkman & Brian J. Cowley. Correspondence should be directed to: Dennis D. Kerkman, Department of Psychology & Sociology, PMB 109, 8700 River Park Drive, Parkville, MO 64152, USA.

[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Cultures differ in their attitudes toward the environment. Americans value economic growth more than environmental sustainability. Among US university students, long-term orientation, a less masculine approach, and a more collectivist orientation predicted pro-environmental attitudes. Here, we report an extension of this study which indicates that in addition to these cultural values, US students who are more interested in international events and perspectives are significantly more likely to have pro-environmental attitudes. To increase pro-environmental attitudes in the US, programs emphasizing long-term planning and global awareness should be considered, and groups who are at-risk for short-term planning and provincial perspectives should be given priority.

Keywords: culture, collectivism, masculinity, long-term orientation, attitudes, environment, sustainability.

CULTURAL VALUES, INTERNATIONAL ORIENTATION,

AND PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES

The relationship between a habitat and its inhabitants forms the core of environmental psychology. Cultures differ in their values and attitudes toward the environment. This report summarizes the results of three studies recently conducted in my lab to examine how American university students’ cultural values are related to their concern for the environment. Triandis (2002) identified an active versus a passive attitude toward the environment as one of the fundamental ways that cultures differ: Should we change the environment to suit our needs, or should we change our behavior to accommodate the environment’s demands? Shultz (2002) identified three fundamentally different ways that cultures relate to their environment: egoistic approach (“What is best for me?”), altruistic (“What is best for Humankind?”), and biospheric (“What is best for the planet’s ecosystem as a whole?). Clearly, human behaviors are having an increasingly negative impact on the environment, and some cultures are having a much stronger adverse impact on it than others (CO2 Emissions: Metric Tons per capita, 2015). Consequently, we need a better understanding of how human cultural values and attitudes affect the way we treat the environment.

International Orientation, Cultural Values, and

Pro-environmental Attitudes: A Brief Progress Report


20




Despite the serious unemployment problems facing Europe in recent years, European students still rank environmental and climate protection as more important than improvement in the educational system, reduction in unemployment, or managing the financial crisis of 2008 (Students: Sustainability beats financial crisis, 2011). In contrast, US Gallup polls from 1985 to 2013 have repeatedly shown that whenever the US economy declines, Americans are always willing to sacrifice the environment in order to counteract unemployment and spur economic growth (Climate Change: Environment, 2014). The first study on this topic conducted at Park University used archival data to examine the relation between US university students’ pro-environmental attitudes and changes in the US economy from

2007 through 2012. A total of 608 undergraduate US university students participated in the study. Across a broad range of environmental issues (importance of recycling, giving back to the local community, favorable work environment, use of “green” products, reducing campus carbon footprint, and energy conservation), the students’ environmental concern was strongly and negatively correlated with changes in US unemployment (Kerkman & Cowley, 2013). To explain this obvious difference between the US and the European students, I hypothesized that the difference might be due to one of the most fundamental of all cultural differences: Individualism – collectivism. Individualistic people focus primarily on their own wants and needs with little regard for others’ wants and needs, whereas collectivists are more willing to make

personal sacrifices for the good of the group. According to Hofstede (2011), the US is the most individualistic country in the world. In general, Europeans are more collectivistic than Americans. Improving environmental sustainability often requires sacrificing personal conveniences for the common good. Thus, it seemed reasonable to hypothesize that Americans’ individualistic values might explain the difference between their environmental attitudes and those of European university students. In this second study, my colleagues and I (Kerkman, Cowley, Laurenceau, Krupa, Sa, & Jamison, 2014) set out to test the hypothesis that within a US university student sample, individual differences in individualism-collectivism would be the best predictor of pro-environmental attitudes. We used a cultural values scale (Yoo, Danthu,


21








& Leonartowicz, 2011) to measure Hofstede’s (1980) dimensions of cultural differences: Individualism-collectivism, Power-Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity, and Long-term Orientation. We also used the same environmental attitudes scale as Kerkman and Cowley (2013). We sent this electronic survey to all students and employees at a university in the US. As an incentive to participate, those who completed the survey were entered into a $100 lottery. A total of 1,209 participants responded. Of these, 753 were US citizens who were part- or fulltime students and grew up in the US. These 753 served as our final sample. In brief, we found that the correlation of individualism-collectivism with pro-environmental attitudes was statistically significant, but not very strong, r (751) =.04, p < .001. Having a long-term orientation, avoiding uncertainty, and being less masculine were all significantly stronger predictors of environmental concern than individualism-collectivism. Altogether, these four cultural values accounted for 21% of the variance in pro-environmental attitudes, R2 (4, 748) = .212, p < .001, which is also statistically significant due to the relatively large sample size, but is only a moderately strong association. The third, and final study reported here is a fortuitous extension of the second: I recently discovered additional data from these same individuals concerning their international orientation: Items included favoring liberal immigration policies, seeking international news sources, seeking information about other cultures, international films, music, cultural courses, programs and activities, and study abroad programs. Each of these survey items was rated on a scale from 1 (no interest) to 5 (very interested), and summed to create a total international orientation score. When Yoo et als’ (2011) five cultural values scales and this international orientation score were entered into a multiple regression using a forward selection algorithm, the strongest predictor was still long-term orientation, R2 (1, 751) =

As an incentive to participate,

those who completed the survey were

entered into a $100 lottery.

A total of 1,209 participants responded.


22






• Climate Change: Environment. (2015). http://www.gallup.com/poll/1615/environment.aspx.

• CO2 Emissions: Metric Tons per capita. (2015). World Bank Group. (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.ATM.CO2E.PC).

• Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

• Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1014

• Kerkman, D. D. & Cowley, B. J. (2013, July). U.S. University Students’ Concern for environmental sustainability in the context of economic crisis. Poster presented at the annual conference of the Internacional Ambiental-Persona Sociedad (IAPS). A Corunna, Spain, June 25, 2013.

• Kerkman, D. D., Cowley, B. J., Laurenceau, A., Sa, M., Krupa, J., & Jamison, K. (2014, June). Cultural Values and Attitudes toward Environmental Sustainability. Paper presented at the annual conference of Internacional Ambientale-Persona Sociedad (IAPS). Timisaora, Romania, June 24, 2014.

• Schultz, P. (2002). Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors Across Cultures. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 8(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1070

• Students: Sustainability beats financial crisis. (2011, December). Amsterdam, NL: ScienceGuide. http://www.scienceguide.nl/201112/students-sustainability-beats-financial-crisis.aspx

• Triandis, H. C. (2002). Odysseus Wandered for 10, I Wondered for 50 Years. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1007

• Yoo, B., Danthu, N. & Lenartowicz, T. (2011). Measuring Hofstede’s five dimensions of cultural values at the individual level: Development and validation of CVSCALE. Journal of International Consumer Marketing. Vol. 23 (4), 193-210.

References

.150, p < .001. However, international orientation was the next strongest predictor, nearly doubling the percentage of variance accounted for, R2 (2, 750) = .267, p < .001. The final equation also included uncertainty avoidance, masculinity (negatively), and collectivism, R2 (5, 747) = .301, p < .001. Taken together, the results of these three studies lead to the following tentative conclusions: (1) US university students’ concern for the environment is strongly related to fluctuations in America’s economic situation, (2) long-term orientation is the strongest cultural value for predicting American students’ concern for the environment, and (3) international orientation is also a fairly strong and independent contributor to pro-environmental attitudes. This last result is reminiscent of the old environmentalist slogan from the 1960’s, “Think globally, act locally”. We would recommend conducting manipulative experiments to test whether programs that encourage long-term planning and international awareness might improve American university students’ attitudes toward environmental sustainability. Such programs are most likely to produce the largest improvements in segments of the US population that are more likely to become short-term planners and to have more isolated and local perspective, rather than a longer-term and more global orientation.


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http://www.gallup.com/poll/1615/environment.aspx.%20

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.ATM.CO2E.PC

http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1014

http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1070

http://www.scienceguide.nl/201112/students-sustainability-beats-financial-crisis.aspx

http://www.scienceguide.nl/201112/students-sustainability-beats-financial-crisis.aspx

http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1007

One of the fastest growing areas within psychology is the field of environmentally relevant behavior (ERB). The goal of this work isto explore the concept of mindfulness as a key to foster environmentally friendly activities in our everyday lives. In the first section, we introduce the mindfulness construct. In the second section, we focus on some studies which have investigated the relationship between mindfulness and ERB. In the third section, we point out potential future routes of research.

MINDFULNESS

Many spiritual, philosophical as well as psychological traditions emphasize the importance of the quality of consciousness for the maintenance of people’s well-being (Wilber, 2000). One attribute of consciousness that has been much discussed in relation to well-being is mindfulness (Brown & Kasser, 2005; Brown & Ryan, 2003). The concept of mindfulness can be traced back to Buddhist religion and other spiritual and contemplative traditions, where conscious attention and awareness are actively cultivated. It is most commonly defined as the state of what is taking place in the present being attentive as well as aware. For instance, Nyanaponika Thera (1972) called mindfulness “the clear and single-minded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us at the successive moments of perception” (p. 5). To better understand how mindfulness effectively works, we need to highlight more precisely the mechanisms underlying the process of consciousness. Consciousness encompasses both awareness and attention: awareness may be considered as the background “radar” of consciousness, which incessantly monitorsenvironmentalstimuli (Hede, 2010). Specifically, one may be aware of these stimuli without them being at the center of attention (Kabat-Zinn, 1990). On the other hand, attention may be consideredas a process that focuses on conscious awareness andprovides heightened sensitivity to a limited range of experience (Westen, 1999). It is also worth nothing that awareness and attention are strongly interrelated processes, such that attention continually pulls “figures” out of the “ground” of awareness, holding them focally for varying lengths of time (Brown & Ryan, 2003, p. 822). Although attention and awareness are relatively constant features of

Angelo Panno

Department of Education, Experimental Psychology Laboratory, Roma Tre University

[email protected]

Fridanna Maricchiolo


[email protected]

Giuseppe Carrus


[email protected]

The mindfulness practiceto foster environmentally

relevant behavior


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htthttp://issuu.com/action/page?page=28










normal mental functioning, mindfulness can be considered an enhanced attention and awareness of the current experience and present reality (Deikman, 1982). Specifically, a core characteristic of mindfulness has been described as open awareness and attention, which can be reflected in a more regular or sustained consciousness of ongoing events and experiences (Martin, 1997). For example, in speaking with a co-worker, one can be highly attentive to the communication and sensitively aware of the perhaps subtle emotional tone underlying it. Again, when one eats a meal, one can be attuned to the moment-to-moment taste experience while also peripherally aware of the increasing feeling of fullness in one’s stomach (Brown & Ryan, 2003). Mindfulness results compromised when individuals behave compulsively or automatically (Deci & Ryan, 1980). In a less mindful state, emotions may partly occur outside of the individual awareness, or drive our behavior before we clearly acknowledge them (Brown & Ryan, 2003). A mindless state represents a less “awake” state of habitual or automatic functioning that can be chronic for many people.Brown and Ryan (2003) pointed out that arelative absence of mindfulness can be motivated by ego-defense needs and mechanisms, because it occurs when an individual refuses to acknowledge a thought, an emotion, or a motive. Basically, being mindful means being aware, taking note of what is going on within ourselves and outside in the world, without shying away from information or feelings that we do not like or do not wish to be true. Noteworthy, mindfulness is a concept that can be viewed in two different ways: first, a mental training technique (meditation) that we engage for a period of time, second a way of being in our everyday lives. Mindfulness bears some relation to other constructs that have received empirical attention, such as emotional intelligence, which includes perceptual clarity about one’s emotional state (Salovey, Mayer, Goldman, Turvey, & Palfai, 1995). Thus, one expects that the mindfulness should be related to such perceptual clarity, because it involves receptive attention to human psychological state as well as environmental stimuli.

Since mindfulness provides clarity and vividness to common human experience, then it may also contribute to well-being and happiness in a direct way. Relevant to environmentally responsible activities, mindfulness may hold an important function in disengaging individuals from strong unsustainable habits and unhealthy behavioral patterns, thus playing a key role in fostering people’s self-regulation, which has long been associated with well-being enhancement (Ryan & Deci, 2000). In other words, mindfulness might also serve an important self-regulatory function, which can foster people’s sustainable lifestyles (Brown & Kasser, 2005). In the next section, we will describe some studies linking mindfulness to environmentally relevant behavior.

MINDFULNESS AND

ENVIRONMENTALLY RELEVANT

BEHAVIOR

Abramovitz (2003) pointed out that material consumption levels are rising worldwide, thus the human quality of life may be at risk. Consistent with this idea, previous studies (e.g., Brown & Kasser, 2005; Ericson, Kjønstad, & Barstad, 2014) pointedout that achieving sustainable societies will mean scaling back on our material lives. Yet, convincing people to live in more ecologically sustainable ways will be challenging if people believe that their subjective well-being(SWB) will consequently suffer. In sum, rapidly growing demand for resources has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss of diversity of life on Earth. There will be three billion more middle-class consumersin the next 20 years, who will further increase the consumption of resources. If billions of people across the world hold materialistic values, making perceived well-being heavily dependent on material consumption, it will be hard to achieve sustainability. It would be easier if well-being was achieved through means that are less dependent on consumption. Thus, some authors (e.g., Brown & Kasser, 2005; Ericson et al., 2014) depicted the contribution of mindfulness to SWB as a mean for reducing the overconsumption. The well-being thus

Mindfulness might also serve

an important self-regulatory function, which

can foster people’s sustainable

lifestyles


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achieved can, in turn, contribute to a more sustainable way of life. Recently, Ericson and colleagues showed that promoting mindfulness practice in schools, workplaces and elsewhere could simultaneously contribute to more sustainable ways of life as well as well-being (Ericson et al., 2014). The mechanism hypothesized behind this link concerns the idea that the mindfulness is strongly related to SWB, which in turn is linked to sustainability through seeking gratifications by means other than material rewards. Put differently, earth resources are under pressure due to high levels of material consumption; thus, SWB sought through other means than material consumption could make an important contribution to ERB, while mindfulness plays a key role in this relationship, as it is the most proximal predictor of SWB (Brown et al., 2007; Chambers et al., 2009). To corroborate these relationships between mindfulness, SWB and environmentally

friendly behaviors, we can point out a further study showing strong associations between connectedness to nature, well-being, and mindfulness (Howell, Dopko, Passmore, & Buro, 2011). This study is based on Wilson’s (1984) much-cited biophilia hypothesis, which suggests that people’s health and well-being is associated with the possibility of a repeated and systematic relationship to nature. Thus, one could claim that a strong connectedness to nature can foster SWB through mindfulness because mindfulness enhances the positive emotions and perceptions that humans feel when experiencing contact with the natural world. Nowadays, research suggests that a more generalized mindful consideration of one’s inner states and behavior should be likely to bring simultaneous benefits of both the individual as well as the ecosystems. Relevant to this point is the issue about the shared common sense assumption that sustainable behaviors

do necessarily imply negative outcomes for the individual, such as self-sacrifice, or discomfort, fatigue, or economic costs. Recently, various authors have started to question this straightforward assumption, and suggested that performing environmentally relevant conducts might also represent a form of intrinsic reward for the individual (e.g., Bechtel & Corral-Verdugo, 2010; Corral-Verdugo et al., 2015; De Young, 2000; Veenhoven, 2006). For example, Brown and Kasser (2005) have found that SWB and ERB were complementary as happier people were living in more ecologically sustainable ways. The authors identified the mindfulness as the core factor that promoted both happiness and ERB. “These results weigh against the off-stated belief that personal well-being and ecologically supportive behavior are necessarily in conflict, and instead suggest that a trade-off between the two is not a fait accompli” (Brown & Kasser, 2005, p. 360-361). Thus, even though human


26















happiness and ecological sustainability are often portrayed as conflicting pursuits by consumption economics, they may be viewed as complementary and interdependent, if a sustainable economics perspective is taken (see Latouche, 2007, for a review: see also Corral-Verdugo et al., 2008). The link between income, well-being and ERB is also a relevant issue to discuss here. A problem associated with increases in material goods and income is that their effects on SWB seem to be rather short-lived. People soon become accustomed to a given level of material welfare. This phenomenon of habituation and adaptation to the circumstances of life is called the “hedonic treadmill effect” (see Seligman, 2002, for more details). Thus, an interesting aspect of mindfulness is that these mental training techniques appear to be able to undo the hedonic treadmill effect (Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek,& Finkel, 2008). In the next section, we will provide some reflections for further addressing this field of investigation.

FUTURE STUDIES

ON MINDFULNESS AND ERB

We believe mindfulness may influence people’s ERB through two pathways. First,mindfulness can lead to a dampened hedonic treadmill effect, which allows people to achieve a SWB disregarding material rewards and, consequently, supporting ERB. Second, mindfulness shall lead to greater SWB through empathy and connectedness with nature, which are known as two relevant predictors of ERB (Howell et al., 2011). In both cases, a more habitual use of environmentally relevant strategies could lead people to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle and consequently reducingthe indiscriminate use of earth resources. As far as the relationship between mindfulness and ERB is concerned, it is worth to point out that a mindfulness-based lifestyle may also counteract unsustainable habits triggered by situational factors, such as time pressure. Specifically, the usual daily lives experience shared by many citizens

in western societies, characterized by the feeling of being stressed by approaching deadlines, by the desire of quickly getting material rewards, can be conceived as supporting a view of life which does not include time for environmentally friendly habits. Accordingly, a mindfulness-based lifestyle might slacken impulses as well as bring away from people’s mind the urges related to time pressure. This, in turn, should be reflected in the formation of more sustainable habits in the long run. Future studies investigatingthe mechanisms underlying the relationships between mindfulness,time pressure and ERB are needed. Mental training techniques aimed to improve people’s mindfulness could have important applied implications as many people could enhance their awareness about hearth resources and to pursue SWB dampening the hedonic treadmill effect.It is worth nothing that, even three years after starting, a large proportion of participants to mindfulness trainings (56%) still


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• Abramovitz, J. (2003). Vital signs 2003: The Trends that Are Shaping Our Future. W. W. Norton, New York.

• Bechtel, R.B., & Corral, V. (2010). Happiness and sustainable behavior. In V. Corral, C. García, & M. Frías (Eds.), Psychological Approaches to Sustainability. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

• Brown, K. W., & Kasser, T. (2005). Are psychological and ecological well-being compatible? The role of values, mindfulness, and lifestyle. Social Indicators Research, 74, 349-368.

• Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822.

• Corral-Verdugo, V., Carrus, G., Bonnes, M., Moser, G., Sinha, J. (2008). Environmental beliefs and endorsement of Sustainable Development principles in water conservation - toward a New Human Interdependence Paradigm scale. Environment and Behavior, 40, 703-725.

• Corral-Verdugo, V., Frías, M., Gaxiola, J., Tapia, C., Fraijo, B. & Corral, N. (2015). Ambientes positivos. Ideando entornos sostenibles para el bienestar humano y la calidad ambiental. Mexico city: Pearson. ISBN: 978-607-32-3102-2.

• Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1980). Self-determination theory: When mind mediates behavior. The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 1, 33-43.

• Latouche, S. (2007). Sustainable consumption in a de-growth perspective. Sustainable consumption, Ecology and Fair Trade. Routledge, London, 178-185.

• De Young, R. (2000). Expanding and evaluating motives for environmentally responsible behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 56, 509-526.

• Ericson, T., Kjønstad, B. G., & Barstad, A. (2014). Mindfulness and sustainability. Ecological Economics, 104, 73-79.

• Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pek, J., & Finkel, S. M. (2008). Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1045-1062.

• Hede, A. (2010). The dynamics of mindfulness in managing emotions and stress. Journal of Management Development, 29, 94-110.

• Howell, A. J., Dopko, R. L., Passmore, H. A., & Buro, K. (2011). Nature connectedness: Associations with well-being and mindfulness. Personality and Individual Differences, 51(2), 166-171.

• Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. New York: Delacourt.

• Martin, J. R. (1997). Mindfulness: A proposed common factor. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 7, 291–312.

• Nyanaponika Thera. (1972). The power of mindfulness. San Francisco, CA: Unity Press.• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic

motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78.• Salovey, P., Mayer, J. D., Goldman, S. L., Turvey, C., & Palfai, T. F. (1995). Emotional attention,

clarity, and repair: Exploring emotional intelligence using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale. In J. W. Pennebaker (Ed.), Emotion, disclosure, and health (pp. 125–154). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

• Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness. New York: Free Press.• Veenhoven, R. (2006). Is life getting better? How long and happy people live in modern

society. European Psychologist, 10, 330-343.• Wallace, B. A., & Shapiro, S. L. (2006). Mental balance and well-being: building bridges

between Buddhism and Western psychology. American Psychologist, 61(7), 690.• Westen, D. (1999). Psychology: Mind, brain, and culture (2nd ed). New York: Wiley.• Wilber, K. (2000). Integral psychology: Consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy. Boston:

Shambhala.• Wilson, E. O. (1984). Biophilia. Harvard University Press.

References

practice meditation (see Wallace & Shapiro, 2006). Thus, policy makers should incentive collective programs aimed to foster this practice. There are, however, many things we do not know in this field of inquiry, especially as regards the effects related to environmentally friendly activities. In general, there is a lack of experimental evidence, as most studies in this area are correlational. Long-term consequences in terms of environmental behavior, political activism (or alienation), and lifestyle have seldom been explored in systematic experimental settings. Therefore, a greater number of experimental and longitudinal studies are needed to test the causality of these relationships. Another related question is how easy it is to sustain mindfulness meditation over time, and what role training plays in developing and sustaining this practice. To address this issue, longitudinal research designs are needed and both quantitative as well as qualitative research efforts are called for. Last, but not least, the practical feasibility of direct mindfulness training programs

on large sectors of current population might also be mentioned, as Preliminary environmental psychological research indicates the mindfulness as a fruitful route, which may contribute to enhance ERB. Taken together the results of previous studies (e.g., Brown & Kasser, 2005; Ericson et al., 2014) are hopeful in pointing to a mutually beneficial relation between personal and planetary well-being,

especially given that mindfulness can be cultivated. To conclude, one might claim that–in the contemporary consumer culture–mindfulness may be necessary to develop environmentally friendly habits. this can represent a barrier for concrete and cost-effect large–scale policy implementation. Preliminary environmental psychological research indicates the mindfulness as a fruitful route, which may contribute to enhance ERB. Taken together the results of previous studies (e.g., Brown & Kasser, 2005; Ericson et al., 2014) are hopeful in pointing to a mutually beneficial relation between personal and planetary well-being, especially given that mindfulness can be cultivated. To conclude, one might claim that–in the contemporary consumer culture–mindfulness may be necessary to develop environmentally friendly habits.

Acknowledgements: This paper has been elaborated within the frame of the research project “GLAMURS”, funded by the UE-FP7 under the Theme SSH.2013.2.1-1, grant agreement n. 613420.


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Currently, there are multiple examples of urban transformation that involve the domestic 1. In most of them it comes to extensions of the private, uses and spaces, on the street; it is this temporary occupation that reflects the small changes affecting the routine use of public space through

forms of appropriation by individuals or groups. Despite their interest, therewith a contradiction that stresses the value of the collective and its essence is revealed: on the one hand the need to inhabit it,to use it as an essential part of its value; and on the other hand, the loss of public domain against the individual or collective domain that couldinterpret a space that belongs to everyone in a biased way. In this way, as it is a space for free use, with no cost and with a wide possibility of choice, there is a risk of turning it into a consumption space, where there is less involvement and a search for private profit as against the benefit of the public. And so we went from sweeping the street 2 a helpful form of symbiosis between the collective and the self, to a situation where other typologies of urban occupation hold sway, some of them more needful, such as residential occupations under bridges and steps or benches and parks as places to eat, and some that only imply the occupation of public spaces, as sometimes happens with terraces over sidewalks. Some of these practices can even be carried out in an institutionalized form on behalf of an allegedly collective need, such as the excessive delimitation of vehicle parking outdoors, depriving pedestrians of the enjoyment of a large amount of surface area 3. In very few cases does urban transformation go in the opposite direction: the transfer of private space and community participation in the extension of the collective space with no obligation, rule or law to promote it. This is,

Juan Creus Andrade

PhD in Architecture, Professor in the Department of Architectural Projects and Town Planning, member of the GCeT research group, University of A Coruña

Iago Carro Patiño

Architect, researcher in the Department of Architectural Projects and Town Planning, member of the GCeT research group, University of A Coruña

Alejandro Álvarez Blanco

Architect, PhD student in the Department of Architectural Projects and Town Planning, member of the GCeT research group, University of A Coruña

Cartography of a festive state. The agreement of Cans


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however, one of the main premises handled by the Cans Festival of Short Films (Porriño-Pontevedra, Spain). A village of just 450 inhabitants that is completely transformed, expanding its free access surface to display a unique cultural event where film screenings are held in warehouse spaces and stables; discussions and debates are held in fields; and concerts in granaries, courtyards and on roads. This is a spatial transformation process that extends to the interpretation of territory and

geography, showing its capacity for cyclic change. The festival represents a test every year for inhabitants, testing their ability as a group and their tenacity to obtain a return that leaves news, stays that will profit from a more habitable space. The residents are the ones who push for change, teach it, argue it and then make it disappear. Thus the village is transformed into a creative space in which new ways to boost the complex territories that mix rural and urban ways of life are proposed, stimulating culture from the

exploration of the place itself through what we call the Agreement of Cans 4. This agreement is made possible by maintaining the balance between the various interests of tourists-explorers, “glamorous” guests and more and less involved residents. The agreement is established among three main actors: the residents, who provide availability and involvement; Alfonso Pato, the festival´s director, who brings ambition and negotiating skills; and Cans characters, who bring extroversion and recognition. The agreement is

Figure 1: CANS 11 months per year. Cartography of daily public space. The Cans Agreement (GCeT, 2014).


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acceptable in this precarious condition because the small size of the town involves spontaneity in the negotiations between the organization, residents and institutions. There is Cans 11 months a year, a territory with a fragmented geography because of successive tracings of the road and the motorway, but with the detail and strength of its plot structure, with an identity divided between infrastructure and dispersed clusters of houses and warehouses. And there is the Cans festival, the sheds and

farms converted into public spaces, the new mobility of tractors, tents, the conversion of the road and the new parking structure and routes. This is the Cans of total activation, the cartography of a festive state. Its success – beyond taking advantage of the similarity of the name of the village with the city of the famous Cannes Festival (France), or the undoubted quality of its cultural content – lies in the fact that it is an event that is staged and achieves the boost of change in a society that demands

new ways of inhabiting, agreeing on the transfer of its own property to a collective programme of activities capable of attracting other communities. Claiming the concept of place as an inhabited space, but in this case, open, as creative experience through new forms of use. Practices which, on the one hand, represent a difference from the dynamics of work, residence and leisure associated with the central urban core, working almost as a means of escape, and on the other hand, they involve living these same activities as

Figure 2: CANS during the festival. Cartography of a festive state. The Cans Agreement (GCeT, 2014).


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part of the festival experience. Cans is a gesture of opening a community of rural origin and a hybrid present, defending an identity above the local, using cultural, and therefore research and creative activity as a commitment to converting its own domestic space into a new form of structured, readable and transferable community. The strategy experiments with space-time testing modes of inhabiting from the elements themselves, where material, the built and cultivated, ere manipulated and exposed by residents. It is a strange and suggestive temporal symbiosis between

activity and space as a performative experiment that tests and gradually builds up elements and incorporates necessary changes in the consciousness of residents. One of the basic issues and ingredients of the festival is that its structure is based on the village itself, from the complexity of its parceled and constructed fabric to the elements of its geographical and territorial dimension, which serve as organizational references of the activity and provide meaning during its celebration. The structure of the rural space is

introduced as a reference pattern that provides readability to the festival space. Both feed on their respective values and are for a few days the same thing. Hence residents are the linchpin that achieve this transfer, mixing in the activity of the festival, not only contributing their properties, buildings and spaces, but also integrating themselves into the organization and intervening in a very active way in all areas of work: from the preparation and conditioning of public and private spaces to the accompaniment of actors and personalities and the control of

Figure 3: Cans covered. Models, interior space and plot cartography of the conversion of private space into public space. The Cans Agreement (GCeT) / Ducia de Cans / RESINA (Creus e Carrasco, 2014).


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projections, maintenance and mobility of visitors, etc. In this regard, mobility, as the identity of the typical dispersed settlement in Galicia where the road is the key element that gives structure to the territory, becomes one of the most featured issues for work and research from the festival, endowing it with cohesion and establishing links in time beyond the days the festival lasts. These transmission links between the geographical (topography, water, vegetation), mobility, and the different degrees of construction and the activity of the private (plots, culture, warehouses, housing), are maintained, developed and evolved within the festival as its actual support. With this idea sheds and auxiliary constructions of dwellings are transformed into movie theaters and major spaces for projection. Converted, isolated, attached and integrated architectures serve as the attraction and to show the identity of a system of life linked to forms of cultivation and the breeding of animals, but also to the metropolitan residence that conceives territory as a garden city, and are able

to participate in the promotion of a culture like the film industry, providing content that makes it credible, more real. Not for nothing have the label of agroglamour, together with other names representative of the festival’s attitude combining tradition and modernity, such as Galpón Friki (the Freak Shed) and Jaliñeiro (Chicken coop) Unplugged become an identity sign that explains this promotion very well. The blue carpet (which besides being recycled is a symbolic color for Galicia), which extends from the halls along the access roads and which is trodden on by both participants and visitors, identifies the conversion spaces, the places offered by each resident. They concentrate their enthusiasm and generosity, studying their limits each year, based on the interstices of the public and the complex shapes of land plots and architectures that have been built from it, achieving a rich sequence of uses and spaces that are introduced from the public into private, without compromising their privacy. In this regard, the conversion of private spaces into public places is achieved

precisely because of the complexity of the plots and the buildings, where residential space is complemented by open spaces and all kinds of auxiliary (productive) structures. This is the physical framework that concentrates the enthusiasm and generosity of the owners for public enjoyment of their spaces. This internal diversity of built-up plots not only allows for the development of very different activities but also the presence of entrance, thoroughfare and socializing areas, without compromising the private spaces of residents. After the first four cinemas that got the festival underway in 2004 - Cuberto de Antonio (Antonio’s shed) , Cuberto de Bugarín (Bugarin’s shed), Casa do Carreira (Carreira’s house) and Casa do Pato (the Duck’s house) - others joined in - Cuberto de Chelo (Chelo’s shed), Casa de Mari (Mari’s house), Baixo do Moncho (Moncho’s ground floor), Baixo de Alfonso Alfonso’s ground floor), Casa de Bugarín (Bugarin’s house) and Baixo de Carlos (Carlos’ ground floor); up to a total of ten who have been operating in recent years. They are very different


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architectures: auxiliary buildings of popular architecture, extensions of the domestic space on ground floors, and even some intermediate spaces, upstairs, between houses and garages. No particular or specific architecture is sought out; what matters is providing, activating the village from the places of each and very resident 5. Together with these, the Jalpón Fri or Jalpón de Alicia (Alicia’s ‘ut), for special screenings; the Multipurpose room or Casa do Pedreiro, the Jaliñeiro Unplugged for small concerts and the Canastro Experience with exclusive performances for 12 people within a granary. Moreover, there are the Leira of Alicia as an outdoor space for film colloquia and two exhibition spaces for showing works of residents: Expodivina, in Divina’s house, and Costa Azul, at the Cuesta de Casa de Constante. A structure, in appearance complex and difficult to manage, which, however, by using the organizational system of an existing structure, maintained by residents, works perfectly. Thus there are also other private spaces that are converted there where an activity related to the festival is needed: a place

for first aid, a press room, spaces for the jury, dressing rooms, warehouses ... but also roads and crossings opened to facilitate visitors’ tours. From the domestic to infrastructure. And the other way round, from infrastructure as a specialized space, to the possibilities of reconversion into public space. Thus, the N-120 road is transformed into a pedestrian boulevard, the Cans Voulevar, which becomes the greatest space of the festival, with stalls, the two existing bars grow by means of outer bars and other parallel activities. To make this possible pedestrian traffic at some points of the road is strategically cut near parking areas, even creating safety rails to protect pedestrians on the roads into Cans. This is a porosity that transforms the inner life of a sometimes hermetic village that year after year movesto the limits of property boundaries and recognizes a public network that gradually extends over the territory. In memory of residents, some of the most representative spaces come to have a double reading with meanings that are associated with

time, a dual reality that takes place one after the other, moving between local practices and the generic use that, far from confusing identity, has achieved a balance that also gives it a double value. Consider that the three main open spaces in Cans are transformed by erecting four simple tents, very basic objects that enhance the collective use of existing space and dot the land with the perception of a festival that is already polynuclear. The atrium of the Church becomes the Torreiro, a central auditorium for concerts, awards ceremonies and where the main bar, the Torreiro das Estrelas, and the walk of Fame 6 are located. The road boulevard becomes a pedestrian street, with a further two tents covering it in sections. And near the river - in a rediscovered space for the public - a playground has been consolidated over the years with rest areas built with ephemeral materials 7 that recognize and integrate ethnographic - such as the laundry - and environmental elements - such as certain unique trees. Near this, another tent that works as a covered eating area is located.


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• Asociación Cultural Arela & Pato, Alfonso (2004-2014). Festival de Cans. Retrieved February 20, 2015 (http://www.festivaldecans.com).

• Creus, Juan & Carrasco, Covadonga (2009). Cans. Resina, 2, 94-135. Retrieved February 20, 2015 (http://www.creusecarrasco.com/index.php?d=RESINA/94-135%20CANS).

• Ergosfera (2011-2015). ¡Eu si quero feísmo na miña paisaxe!. Retrieved February 20, 2015 (http://ergosfera.org/archivo/eu_si_quero_feismo_na_miña_paisaxe.html).

• Students and teachers of Juana de Vega Master’s degree in Landscape (2014). CanScape. Retrieved February 20, 2015 (http://canscape.tumblr.com).

• Creus, Juan & Pato, Alfonso (curators). Ducia de Cans (2014-2015, Normal-UDC, A Coruña). Retrieved February 20, 2015 (http://istoenormal.org/es/exposicions/ducia-de-cans).

• Galicia Cidade e Territorio (2014). O Pacto de Cans. Mapa das transformacions urbanas da parroquia de Cans durante o seu festival de curtametraxes (2004-2014). Retrieved February 20, 2015 (https://cidadeterritorio.wordpress.com/divulgacion/o-pacto-de-cans-web/).

• Creus, Juan & Carrasco, Covadonga (2014). Ducia de Cans. Resina, 4, 404-428. Retrieved February 20, 2015 (http://www.creusecarrasco.com/index.php?d=RESINA/404-428%20DUCIAdeCANS).

References

1 In Domesticar la calle, a+t 35-36 Strategy Public, 2010, p. 304, Grupo Habitar analyzes and explores different possibilities of returning the nature of a public place to the street based on its own characteristics.

2 In Streets for people, a primer for americans, B. Rudofsky shows certain images that illustrate very well this form of membership. Idem. p.307.

3 Groups such as Rebar (San Francisco) criticize this abuse of appropriation by means of Park (ing) Day, where they pay for outdoor parking spaces to carry out interventions for public use. Ibid. p.307.

4 El Pacto de Cans. Mapa de las transformaciones urbanas de la parroquia de Cans durante su festival de cortos 2004-2014 is a work directed and produced for the GceT research group by A. Blanco y I. Carro, as a part of the exhibition Ducia de Cans, curated by J. Creus and A. Pato for NORMAL (UDC), A Coruña, 2014-15. The document can be found at: https://cidadeterritorio.wordpress.com/divulgacion/o-pacto-de-cans-web/

5 Models, combining their material and highlighting the place the sheds occupy within the global construction, symbolize this value. CREUSeCARRASCO production for the Ducia Cans exhibition.

6 More details about spaces, activities and history of the festival at: http://www.festivaldecans.com

7 For example, the CanScape project, carried out by students and professors of the Juana de Vega Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture in 2014. It can be found here: http://canscape.tumblr.com/

8 Discussion movement questioning the construction of territory in Galicia.

Footnotes

This network, which interprets, renews and transforms the existing structure by overlapping it, is complemented on a functional level by small elements of temporary festival services: information points and sales points, public toilets, bars ...; but it is also complemented on the symbolic level by elements that represent the identity of the festival and provide a spatial reference that delimits a perceptual framework by means of milestones: the yellow dog hung up by residents in their homes as a symbol of commitment to the festival, the bright sign placed above the roundabout access and blue and red carpets indicating the entrance to the screening rooms. Cans communicates and is experienced as atmosphere. However, one of the most characteristic elements, which unite in a unique way the symbolic and the functional levels, is the chimpimbus, a small tractor, driven and decorated by residents, which functions as public transport between the cinema halls and which, with good speed and a convertible, communicative and non-

encapsulated condition, involves a total coexistence with the pedestrian world. This clear and well organized recognition between structures is complemented by the strategic location of the public car parks, differentiating space for the organization and various provisions, and connecting with the different mobility networks. Finally, if we think about the immediate future of the festival, the Cans to come, the question of new or potential architectures arises: the most recent constructions, which have to be assessed to see whether they are able to add value to the event like existing ones, abandoned ones and those that have been on hold for several years, an omnipresent reality in Galician terrritory with which we are sure they will soon begin to experience from the festival. The importance of the Cans Festival is based on the kind of reality that is transmitted in the radical transformation that poses without surrender the resource of theatricalization or the following conventional and predictable urban

patterns. In this sense, Cans is a kind of R&D&i laboratory in contemporary Galician town planning, making us reflect on the critical position of conventional planning against this type of impure places, and opening the debate on whether these processes could happen in more orderly, coherent places that are free of “ugliness” 8. Faced with the logic of cultural macroevents based on architecture, on the building of large airtight containers including even the way to the airport, Cans offers something as simple as it is radical: the experience of a territory-event in which happenings are ubiquitous and simultaneous. Its mechanisms of direct intervention, through in situ agreement of residents (their active and committed participation in the material, functional and symbolic), enable the reinvention of urban spaces from the experience of each and every visitor -a space in which the domestic moves to the metropolitan, the geographic and the global, but also where the territory, through its objects, spaces and routes, actually permeates all activity in the Cans Festival.


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The IAPS POLICY ON SUPPORTING THE PARTICIPATION OF EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS IN RESEARCH MEETINGS applies to any summer course, specific seminar or workshop that has been designed to provide training to students. Priority will be given to providing financial support to early career researchers attending activities that are promoted or organized by IAPS. An early career researcher is someone currently studying for a Masters or PhD qualification, or someone who has graduated with such a qualification within the last 2 years. The IAPS treasurer will assign a budget at the beginning of the period that the policy applies. The budget is set aside to provide financial support to cover the registration fees or other travel or accommodation expenses of the specific scientific activity. This budget should contain a clause suggesting a maximum for any individual payment. No monies will be spent any given year without the IAPS board having first agreed this budget.

The procedure for awarding financial support to early career researchers as part of the IAPS POLICY ON SUPPORTING THE PARTICIPATION OF EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS IN RESEARCH MEETINGS is as follows:

1. Candidates must be members of IAPS and have their fees paid for the period in which financial assistance is being sought.

2. Applications for financial support shall be submitted to IAPS three months before the activity, and will be accompanied by two letters of recommendation from two senior professors/researchers of IAPS.

3. The selection of beneficiaries will be conducted by an independent panel of three senior members of IAPS, whose composition will be gender-inclusive, and which will be chaired by the president of the Board of IAPS or by the member of the board designated by the president according to the thematic of the research activity. The IAPS board will designate the other two members among senior specialists within IAPS. All decisions made by this panel will respect the budget.

4. The panel shall select the candidates on the following criteria: the CV of the candidate; the relevance of the activity; and the fit with the doctoral stage and plans of the candidate.

5. Expenses will be paid when the invoice is submitted by the candidate, showing that the payment has been made to the organization of the scientific activity. The candidate will also have to present the certificate of attendance of the activity. No payment will be made without accompanying receipts.

iaPs Policy on suPPorting the ParticiPation of early career researchers in research meetings

IAPS


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BUDGET FOR EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER

FINANCIAL SUPPORT - 2015

As part of the IAPS general operating budget, a sum of 3000 € is set aside with the specific purpose of applying the IAPS POLICY ON SUPPORTING THE PARTICIPATION OF EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS IN RESEARCH MEETINGS. The maximum individual payment will be fixed at 500 €. Therefore a minimum of 6 early career researchers should be supported in the 2015 period.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS 2015

As part of the IAPS POLICY ON SUPPORTING THE PARTICIPATION OF EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS IN RESEARCH MEETINGS, we are very pleased to announce a programme of financial support for IAPS early career researchers who are currently undertaking their Masters or PhD dissertation. The IAPS board has set aside a budget for the year 2015 to provide financial support for a limited number of early career researchers to cover part of the expenses associated with participating in events such as workshops, seminars or summer courses which are relevant for their training in the field of people-environment studies and related to the themes of the IAPS research networks. If you wish to apply for financial support for attending an event related to IAPS, then email the President of IAPS, Ricardo García Mira: [email protected], attaching a copy of your CV, as well as a brief report (1 page) of your Masters or PhD dissertation, signed by your superviser or by the director of the programme. According to the point 2 of the General Policy, applications will be also accompanied by two letters of recommendation from two senior professors/researchers of IAPS.


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Last September, the President of IAPS, professor Ricardo Garcia-Mira was invited to participate as a keynote speaker in the 5th International Conference on Community Psychology, which was held in Fortaleza, Brazil, under the auspices of the Federal University of Cearà and the University of Fortaleza. One of our IAPS members, Zulmira Bonfim, was involved in the organization as Coordinator of the Scientific Committee, and the result was an excellent conference on “Community psychology in the current world: challenges, limits and practices”. Professor Garcia-Mira talked about sustainability as a social and political challenge, and he underlined the need for more connections between research, innovation and environmental policy. Also in September, Garcia Mira participated in the International Conference on Urban Planning and the Environment, organized by the University of Guadalajara (Mexico) with the opening lecture” City and Sustainability: Vulnerabilities and Opportunities for Innovation and Well-being”. It was a chance for meeting well known environmental psychologists and other IAPS members participating in this event, like Professor David Stea (member of our Hall of Fame!) and Professor Bernardo Jiménez (University of Guadalajara).

Disseminating iaPs in latin america SUPPORTING RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ORGANIZED BY OUR MEMBERS IN BRAZIL AND MEXICO

NEWS 2014


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Enrique Teófilo Saforcada, Sheila GonçalvesCâmara, Raquel Souza Lobo Guzzo, and Ricardo García-Mira.

Bernardo Jiménez, Ricardo García-Mira and David Stea.


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Professor García-Mira and Professor Seungkwang Shon met at the Yonsey University in Seoul, where they participated in the International Conference on “Symbiotic Life, Science and Technology”, held in Seoul last October. Professor García-Mira talked about the barriers to communication between research and policy, as well as about the last developments in Europe on sustainablity and social innovation. In the picture, García-Mira and Shon together with an old and well known IAPS board member, Andrew Seidel, who was also invited to participate in this conference.

symbiotic life, science anD technology SUPPORTING PEOPLE-ENVIRONMENT ACTIVITIES IN ASIA: SOUTH KOREA

Seúl, South Korea.

The President of IAPS receiving a Plaque of Appreciation from the General Chair of the Conference, Professor Yeunsook Lee (Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea).

Andrew Seidel, Seungkwang Shon and Ricardo García-Mira at the University of Yonsey (South Korea).


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IAPS was also present at the II Conference on “Renaturing Cities: Research and Innovation Policy Priorities for Systemic Urban Governance”, held in Milan (italy) on the 1st and 2nd of December 2014 and organized by the European Commission (EC), under the auspicious of the Italian Presidency of the European Council. We were invited to participate by the Commission and Ricardo García-Mira held a lecture on “Transforming cities: the quest for sustainable lifestyles, urban innovation and safer communities”, and we had the chance of presenting part of the research work some of us are carrying out.

IAPS is now known as an international association which groups a body of experts on these issues and other people-environment themes of research. With the collaboration of other IAPS members, like Marino Bonaiuto, Adina Dumitru, and Nadja Kabisch, we collaborated intensively with the Commission in preparing this conference and made significant advances in the incorporation of human behavior aspects in the quest for urban transformation in future EU research agendas.

cooPerating with the euroPean commission in builDing research agenDas

RENATURING CITIES: RESEARCH AD INNOVATION POLICY PRIORITIES FOR SYSTEMIC URBAN GOVERNANCE

Professor García-Mira addressing his speech to EC officers and other academics.


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Housing 2.0 is a platform derived from the CITY 2.0 of TED 2012, allowing people all around the world to participate in the creation of new paradigms to solve the current housing problems. The theme of this conference is thus to explore how housing has been limited by the approaches taken by the government and capital market in the past and how it could be tackled given this context. –So we ask, what kinds of new approaches or systems could overcome the current housing problems?

The scope of exploration under this topic could be boundless. This conference attempts to focus on three key themes, while accepting contributions on other aspects:

1. The meaning and value of housing

• Quality of living• Housing for the elderly• Housing for changing households• Housing for special needs• Re-thinking the meaning of home• New roles of social housing• Rediscovering the values of traditional housing

2. The new approaches to build a resilient future

• Sustainable housing development• Housing affordability• Housing solution for urban and suburban area• Future of collaborative housing• Urban rehabilitation and regeneration• New housing design paradigm

3. New systems for resilient development

• Globalization and Housing• Housing markets• Housing policy• Home ownership• Housing and Affordability• Financial difficulties for many households

2015 aPnhr conference news “housing 2.0: search for new ParaDigms

for collaboratiVe housing” FROM 9TH APRIL, 2015 TO 12ND APRIL, 2015.

ASIAN CULTURAL COMPLEX, GWANGJU METROPOLITAN, KOREA KOREAN HOUSING ASSOCIATION

NEWS 2015


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http://apnhr2015.org/

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

- Kyung-Hwan KIM is President of the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS)‚

- Christine WHITEHEAD is Professor of Housing Economics in the London School of Economics‚

- In Keun LEE is the President of the Land and Housing Institute (LHI) of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH).

- Ricardo Garcia MIRA is Professor of Social and Environmental Psychology, and President of IAPS

- Mitsuo TAKADA is Professor of Housing and Environmental Design at Kyoto University and President of the Association of Urban Housing Sciences‚ Japan.

- Rosanne HAGGERTY is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Solutions. She is a founder of Common Ground Community.

TIMETABLE Please note : The Timetable is subject to change, please check for updates.First call for paper: 30 June, 2014Abstract submission deadline: ClosedNotification of abstracts acceptance: 31 December, 2014Early-bird registration deadline: 28 February, 2015Full paper submission deadline: 28 February, 2015Final registration deadline: 31 March, 2015Main Conference: 9-12 April營

PARTICIPANTS

Participants are 190 members are accepted as presenters from 21 countries. Whole the programe and venue are ready for the 2015 APNHR conference. Well come to 2015 APNHR conference, Korea.

Professor Seung-Kwang ShonConference ChairPresident of The Korean Housing Association (KHA)IAPS Board Membershttp://apnhr2015.org

neXt iaPs annual general meeting NEXT IAPS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING WILL BE HELD NEXT JUNE 24TH IN THE FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA, SPAIN


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STEP3

The 2015 STEP3 will be organized by CIRPA (www.cirpa.it), the Centre for Interuniversity Research on Environmental Psychology. It will be hosted in the premises of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Sassari, in Alghero (Sardinia, Italy). Check-in day will be Sunday the 28th of June, check-out on Sunday the 5th July, 2015.

Applicants are invited to apply for participation following the instructions via the CIRPA website’s landing page:http://www.cirpa.it/?q=it/summer-school-step3

Or directly at STEP3 website:https://sites.google.com/a/uniroma1.it/step3/

STEP3 will be organized into 5 parallel workshops; they will be announced subsequently, after applicants’ selection. Examples of STEP previous editions’ workshops can be found in the links provided on the Home page of STEP3 website.

Applications are welcome from PhD students based at Universities all over the world or other young scholars, and should follow the guidelines described on the STEP3 website.

The application period is between the 23rd December 2014 to February 28th, 2015.

Once accepted, participants to STEP3 are required to pay the fee of 500 Euro following instructions that will be provided later on.

For inquiries about the STEP3, please visit the STEP3 website, and in case of further needs please contact the organizing committee at [email protected]

The STEP3 Organizing Committee- Prof. Marino Bonaiuto- Prof. Ferdinando Fornara- Dr. Stefano De Dominicis- Dr. PiermarioPattitoni- Sara Manca- ValentinaTassone- Prof. MiriliaBonnes

thirD summer school for theories in enVironmental Psychology ALGHERO (SARDINIA, ITALY) 28 JUNE – 5 JULY, 2015.


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www.cirpa.it

http://www.cirpa.it/%3Fq%3Dit/summer-school-step3

https://sites.google.com/a/uniroma1.it/step3/


https://sites.google.com/a/uniroma1.it/step3/


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Third Summer school on Theories in Environmental Psychology

Monday June 29th – Saturday July 4th, 2015

Sardinia, Italy

Venue: Faculty of Architecture, University of Sassari, Alghero

[email protected] www.cirpa.it

OFFICIAL WEBSITE #STEP3 FACEBOOK STEP3

Under the Patronage of

Technical Partners

DIPARTIMENTO DI PEDAGOGIA, PSICOLOGIA, FILOSOFIA

UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI CAGLIARI

Application postponed deadline:

28th February 2015

International Association for People-Environment Studies aims to improve the physical environment and human well-being.

EditorsRicardo Garcia MiraGiuseppe Carrus

University of A CorunaDepartment of PsychologyPeople-Environment Research Group

Campus de Elviña, s/n15071 - A Coruña (Spain)

Phone: +34 881011792Fax: +34 981167153E-mail: [email protected]: www.people-environment-udc.org



http://www.people-environment-udc.org

http://www.udc.gal/index.html%3Flanguage%3Den

Documents

IAPS BULLETIN Nº42