Human Behavior and Psychological Needs in Cairo's Urban Spaces Human Behaviour and Psychological Needs In..
Human Behavior and Psychological Needs in Cairo's Urban Spaces Human Behaviour and Psychological Needs In..
Human Behavior and Psychological Needs in Cairo's Urban Spaces Human Behaviour and Psychological Needs In..
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Abstract:
The paper discusses the needs and characteristics of human behavior that should be applied
practically to the design of urban space, in Cairo, the second largest capital and congested
pattern international wide, Aiming to reform a decision matrix that assists local urban designers
in shaping up and designing urban spaces that respond adequately to human physical and
psychological needs. The analysis of the behavioral influential factors that underlie and shape
up the impact of different spaces are analyzed, and the behavioral elements that people expect
from local urban spaces are discussed in terms of a questionnaire study.
El Attaba Square and Abd El Aziz Street are studied using behavioral mapping techniques
through using drawings, photographs, design data, interviews and surveys which could be
indispensable data to any architect interested in urban designs, who wants to create places that
really work for people.
The outcome is a set of criteria that could be measurable, meeting the psychological needs of
locals in urban spaces. Thus creating a place identity that creates a sense of belonging
between local people and the urban spaces, in addition to the presence of social activities to
anchor people to their urban experience and upgrade the social interaction, coming up with
basic recommendations to have better local urban places that satisfy human psychological
needs.
1. INTRODUCTION
The study will start by defining and showing the importance of environmental psychology and
stating the different aspects of environmental psychology that include place theory that consists
of place identity and attachment in addition to other physical attributes. In addition to the quality
criteria needed to have a successful urban place. Analysis took place in one of the famous
streets in Egypt which is Abd El Aziz Street located in El Attaba Square, Surveys and interviews
took place in the studied area to understand and evaluate the level of satisfaction and the needs
of people in an urban place. And finally a group of recommendations were conducted in addition
to a matrix showing the hierarchy of needs of people in an urban space which is considered the
main finding of this research.
2. PAPER STRUCTURE
2.1. Introduction
The paper will study different elements that make a public space more appealing to the human
being like place familiarity, presence of clear paths, nodes and landmarks, place identity that
create a sense of belonging between people and the urban space, in addition to the presence of
social activities to attract people to the urban spaces to upgrade the social life and interaction
and also applying different techniques to keep the human being within his environmental
comfort zone.
practices shared by the users of a space influence the space in addition to contributing to its
shaping (Bannon, 2004).
Consequently, this link between the physical environment and the social environment, made the
organization of the physical setting a dynamic one. Seeing the environment as an open,
dynamic system is not only limited to its connection with people, but it also spreads to the
relationships amongst its elements (Proshansky, 1969).Environmental psychology has different
elements that define it. According to Garling and Golledge (1993), Kaplan and Kaplan (1982)
these elements are:
Attention: Firstly it is needed to understand how people perceive their surrounding environment
to understand their behavior which includes what the human being notices willingly or
unwillingly.
Perception and cognitive maps: The natural and the built environment is one of the fundamental
feature of environmental psychology as data is stored in the human beings brain in the form of
cognitive maps which creates a link of experiences with what an individual perceives the
ongoing ideas, emotions and actions.
Ideal environments: Individuals tend to look for places that make them feel self-assured and
make them familiarized with the environment. It is researched that it is important to make people
have a sense that things work together in the environment in addition to walking in an
environment without being lost. In order to have an ideal environment it must enhance his/her
behavioral effectiveness and his/her sense of well-being.
Environmental stress and managing: Research has recognized various behavioural and
cognitive results including poor physical health, reduced selflessness and weaknesses, as well
as paying no attention to the environment. Individuals can adjust their physical or social
surroundings to create a more supportive environment (e.g. smaller scaled settings, territories,
privacy, personal space) where they can supervise the course of information or stress inducing
stimuli. Individuals can also seek to understand or make sense of circumstances as a way to
resolve its stressful effects, often sharing these interpretations with other individuals as a part of
their culture.
Human identity could be formed by many factors as identity is a result of the psychical
environment (Hauge, 2007). Place identity, according to Proshansky (1987), can be defined as"
a sub-structure of the self-identity of the person consisting of broadly conceived cognitions
about the physical world in which individuals live".
The places where people belong to may increase their environmental preferences and self-
esteem. Place attachment could be a result of place identity, as individuals feel attached to the
same environment as an individual define himself within the environment (Dixon & Durrheim
2000).
Protection
It concentrates on how to decrease unpleasant experiences as unpleasant climate conditions,
traffic accidents and crime.
Comfort
It focuses on the quality of stay and walking in a specific place. It is concerned with sitting,
standing and walking in addition to talking, playing, seeing, and hearing.
Enjoyment
It is concerned with the human scale; it is about the positive aspects of the experience and the
climate and how to enjoy it (Gehl.J, 2006).
Updated matrix
Recommendation
Analysis was made of Abd el Aziz Street in El Attaba square. It is unique in its character, urban
fabric and landmarks. Nevertheless, it has many problems in orientation, and is full of locational
difficulties. It shows another example of an area with several highdensity residential districts as
shown in fig1.
Figure 1: Maps showing the urban fabric and street analysis of el Abd El Aziz Street and its
surrounding (Ahmedy.Y, 2013)
Land use study concluded that the street composes of different buildings. Most of the buildings
are mixed use. It has commercial stores in lower floor and residential in upper floors. There is a
minimum area of green spaces as shown in fig2. Although the regulations prohibit the use of
side walks for goods display yet still most of the shops display their goods at the side walks.
Key:
Mixed Use
Educational
Commercial
Religious
Governmental
Data were collected on days with temperatures between 28C and 36C from late April through
early August in 2013.Observations were carried out between 7:00 AM and 11:00 PM spread out
on weekdays and weekends as shown in fig3.
A survey in Abd El aziz street was conducted it was developed to measure peoples attitude
towards different environmental factors. It is an 18 item questionnaire used to evaluate the
beliefs about nature and society, and the importance of different environmental factors.
Respondents are asked to rate the extent to which they agree or disagree on certain items. The
scale responses are answered on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5
(strongly agree). In addition interviews were also conducted in the studied area.
2.4.6. Pedestrian-friendliness.
In the interviews it was stated that the major problem of the street was traffic and absence of
pedestrian walkways. Since shops put their good on pavement and there is no roam for people
to walk therefore they walk in the street with cars. The level of pedestrian friendliness of a street
was an important factor in determining the level of physical comfort it provided to its users.
3. CONCLUSIONS
Environmental psychology discovers the communications between people both individuals and
groups and their physical setting, it concentrates on both the effects of environmental
circumstances on behavior and how the individual perceives and acts upon, environmental
psychologist believe that psychological processes are always place related and also place
dependent.
According to Salmi (2002) there are key points to look out for in organization of space. These
points include:
Cognitive experience is increased through the Architectural features of buildings.
Findings paths is important and therefore connecting spaces must be there to assist in
connecting large spaces.
Fine places for walking and staying should be delivered, so that the design can satisfy the
needs of the people. Public spaces should be welcoming for all users passing through good
interaction while sitting or standing or even walking and interacting with other people. Therefore
in order to have successful urban spaces three aspects should be satisfied which are protection,
comfort and enjoyment that have been mentioned before as a set of quality criteria.
When these criteria are fulfilled in the design of a space, then an improved place has been
formed for environmental psychological satisfaction.. In fact after the analysis of Abd El Aziz
street and the answers of the interviews and the walk by observations in addition to the results
of the survey that showed a high level of agreement on the proposed factors it has been proven
that place identity familiarity and emotional attachment , safety and control, noise and pollution
control, surrounding architecture and buildings arrangement, landmarks, clear paths and nodes
in addition to other factors are fundamentals in the process of psychological satisfaction of
people in a place.
SBE16-Cairo 2016
Human Behavior and Psychological Needs in Cairos Urban Spaces
The attitude of people towards public spaces, their behavioral responses and perceptions were
examined in this research. It also tried to attempt to understand the elements of the physical
setting, the different nature of urban spaces in addition to places that has communitys collective
meanings. As a result an exploration of different ways to understand, management and the
design, of these public spaces is there.
In fact, it is important to understand that public spaces need more than just the basic needs like
for example shades to protect people from direct sun light or comfortable seating it has to go
beyond this, it has to consider the enjoyment part of the human being to make visiting these
public space a journey in itself resulting in increasing the level of joy of the human being leading
to a high level of psychological satisfaction and comfort. The research also showed that the
surrounding architecture and the building arrangements are considered a visual preference that
affect peoples preference for an environment.
In public spaces people need to have a sense of safety, a sense of belonging, a sufficient level
of environmental and physical comfort, in addition to a sense of belonging and attachment and a
level of social interaction and pleasure. In order to have a satisfactory urban place these needs
should be there.
A survey was conducted to ask people of different backgrounds to what extent they agree that
the presence of the factors deducted from the literature review is important in their psychological
satisfaction. According to their level of agreement the hierarchy of importance of these factors
was deducted.
Table 1: Matrix for urban spaces Characteristics (Ahmedy.Y, 2014)
SBE16-Cairo 2016
Human Behavior and Psychological Needs in Cairos Urban Spaces
4. Recommendations:
4.1. Protection:
In order to satisfy the aspect of protection control and surveillance on urban spaces should be
there in addition to pedestrian security. For places to be safe there have to be people around
engaged in different activities in order to have lights from windows and people nearby
throughout the whole day.
Another factor that deals with protection against unpleasant experiences is environmental
pollution and noise pollution. Having green areas absorbing carbon dioxide emissions from
spaces and laws to regulate noise could be a solution to achieve the aspect of protection.
4.2. Comfort
Comfort deals with the quality of staying in an urban space. It involves presence of social
activities to attract more people as people attract people, presence of adequate seats, presence
of shaded areas for environmental comfort in addition to the emotional comfort like having a
sense of belonging and clear path and way finding strategies. In fact presence of landmarks
could also help in place identity which is one of the fundamentals factors of satisfaction.
In order to satisfy the aspect of comfort there should be
No narrow sidewalks or obstacles.
No blank walls.
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Human Behavior and Psychological Needs in Cairos Urban Spaces
4.3. Enjoyment
Enjoyment is indicated through exceeding the human satisfaction of a place, Presence of
positive and creative aspects of climate, experience and joy through design and activities
occurring in space. Details are an important factor to satisfy the enjoyment aspect. In order to
satisfy the aspect of enjoyment there should be:
Good organization of different building forms.
Creative utilization of attractions in an urban space.
Create spaces on a human scale, with fine details, good materials and good street
furniture.
Fine views and vistas with an aesthetically pleasing surrounding architecture.
Having written quotes on walls that deliver hope, joy and happiness could touch the
emotional part in the human being and could create a kind of space attachment.
After deducting different elements that should be there for psychological satisfaction in a space,
these elements could be categorized according to the different aspects of quality criteria.
Table 2: Table for different categories of psychological aspects according to quality criteria
(Ahmedy.Y,2013)
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Human Behavior and Psychological Needs in Cairos Urban Spaces
5. REFERENCES
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Interactive Environments.
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press: New York. 109-147p.
Castello. L. 2006. City and time and place: bridging the concept of place to urban conservation
planning. Journal of environmental psychology. 1, 1-11.
Casakin, H.P. & Kreitler, S. 2008. Place attachment as a function of meaning assignment.
Environmental science. 2, 80-87.
Dixon, J. & Durrheim, K. 2000. Displacing place-identity: a discursive approach to locating self
and others. British journal of social psychology. 39, 27-44.
Gehl, Jan (1987 - latest edition 2006), Life Between Buildings, The Danish Architectural Press.
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Halpenny, E. 2005. Pro-environment intentions: examining the effect of place attachment,
environmental attitudes, place satisfaction and attitudes toward pro-environmental behaviour.
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Hauge, A.L. 2007. Identity and place. Journal of environmental psychology.
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Knez, I. 2005. Attachment and identity as related to a place and its perceived climate. Journal of
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Milligan, M. 1998. Interactional past and potential. Symbolic interaction. 21, 1-33
Moore, R. (1991). Streets as Playgrounds. In A. Vernez-Moudon (ed.), Public Streets for
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Proshansky, H.M. 1987. The field on environmental psychology: securing its future. Handbook
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