Outdoor Environments for People: Considering Human Factors in Landscape Design

by Patsy Eubanks Owens, Jayoung Koo, Yiwei Huang

Overview

Outdoor Environments for People addresses the everyday human behavior in outdoor built environments and explains how designers can learn about and incorporate their knowledge into places they help to create. Bridging research and practice, and drawing from disciplines such as environmental psychology, cultural geography, and sociology, the book provides an overview of theories, such as personal space, territoriality, privacy, and place attachment, that are explored in the context of outdoor environments and, in particular, the landscape architecture profession. Authors share the impact that place design can have on individuals and communities with regard to health, safety, and belonging.

Beautifully designed and highly illustrated in full color, this book presents analysis, community engagement, and design processes for understanding and incorporating the social and psychological influences of an environment and discusses examples of outdoor place design that skillfully respond to human factors. As a textbook for landscape architecture students and a reference for practitioners, it includes chapters addressing different realms of people–place relationships, examples of theoretical applications, case studies, and exercises that can be incorporated into any number of design courses. Contemporary design examples, organized by place type and illustrating key human factor principles, provide valuable guidance and suggestions. Outdoor Environments for People is a must-have resource for students, instructors, and professionals within landscape architecture and the surrounding disciplines.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138296442
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/31/2023
Pages:	290
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Patsy Eubanks Owens is a Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on the relationships between people and the outdoor environment and methods for youth and adult engagement in design and policy decisions.

Jayoung Koo is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses on sustainability, resilience, engagement, and placemaking to enhance outdoor environments and their relationships for sound communities.

Yiwei Huang is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at Purdue University. Her research focuses on cultural competency and design, visual-driven participatory methods, and the relationships between outdoor environments and everyday geographies of traditionally marginalized urban communities.

Table of Contents

Section A. Theory and research on human-environment relations 1. Human Factors in Context 2. People – Place Relationships Section B. Understanding Communities and People 3. People and Culture 4. The Life-cycle Stage and Place 5. A Spirit of Inclusion 6. Gender and Place Section C. Design Applications 7. Visualizing People and Behavior 8. Engaging People in the Process 9. Case Studies in People Places Section D. Looking Ahead 10. People and Change

Editorial Reviews

"Outdoor Environments for People is essential reading for anyone who wants to create better places for people. This wonderfully insightful and illustrated book should be required for students in landscape architecture, architecture, planning, as well as allied fields of environmental psychology and human ecology. The book’s creative hands-on exercises and projects show designers how to apply the readings to a variety of settings."

Dr. Robert L. Ryan, FASLA, Professor and Department Chair, Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Co-author, With People in Mind: Design and Management of Everyday Nature.

"This book is a fantastic addition to the analogue of literature in the field of environment-behavior studies. It takes long established theoretical concepts familiar to all those who value understanding the relationships between people and place in design and repositions their relevance in relation to contemporary contexts, communities, and challenges. It offers students in design, planning and architecture a fabulous resource, both theoretical and practical and demonstrates the strength of evidence-based design."

Dr. Kate Bishop, Associate Professor, School of Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Co-editor, The Routledge Handbook of Landscape Urban Research and The Routledge Handbook of People and Place in the 21st Century City.

"Every project requires a thoughtful approach towards human-environment design; Outdoor Environments for People is a timely primer for developers, architects, landscape architects, and urban planners. This book is a foundational piece for every professional library."

Marq Truscott, FASLA, Landscape Architect, Developer, Educator, and past ASLA Vice President for Education.

"Outdoor Environments for People draws upon theory from a wide range of disciplines and uses this to inform suggested ways to design outdoor environments for people. It explains and acknowledges past and future family, social, cultural, technological changes, together with the increasing issue of climate change and how these should influence the process of design and the outcome of that process. It explores perceptions, environmental behaviors and needs of users of outdoor environments though the cycle of different stages of life while also addressing issues of inclusion and gender. The text is supported by a range of informative illustrations. This inspiring book is essential for all students of landscape architecture and practitioners, of even a few years, would benefit from this as part of their continuing professional development."

Helen Woolley, FLI, FRSA Professor of Landscape Architecture, Children’s Environments and Society, and Head of Department of Landscape Architecture at The University of Sheffield, England.

From the Publisher