Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional & Community Planning / Laurence A. Clement / The City of Manhattan, Kansas (“the City”) is planning a landscape improvement project for a 0.3-mile portion of one of its non-vehicular rights-of-way (“the Trail”). The focus of the City’s project is to resolve safety issues that have arisen due to a lack of nighttime lighting. While the City’s plan is to implement lighting, this plan would not comprehensively address the Trail users’ and stakeholders’ needs. This study asks, “What design alternatives can be generated to address lighting, safety, and other user and stakeholder concerns for the Trail?” This study employs a literature review, a site inventory and analysis, and a pair of surveys to facilitate the synthesis of a series of design alternatives. The literature review analyzes urban design theory and environmental psychology research to develop a series of design considerations. The site inventory and analysis documents the Trail’s existing conditions through photography, drafting, inventory, observation, and dérive. User and stakeholder surveys were also conducted to gauge existing usage patterns and perceptions of the Trail. From the findings of these methods, a series of environmental designs were developed which respond to users’ experience and stakeholders’ needs as they use and consider the Trail. These designs range on a spectrum of intervention from “minimal” to “high.” It was determined that there are two key regions of the Trail which need immediate attention: an area of thick overgrowth (“the Tunnel”) and an area of ponding and erosion (“the Low Water Crossing”). Additional design considerations were also revealed and addressed by the design alternatives. These designs where then presented to a group of stakeholders who determined that rather than implementing one intervention level, a phasing strategy to implement all intervention levels would be of particular interest. This study also reveals the potential need for a future study about the Trail which would allow stakeholders to analyze the effects of specific, constructed design interventions.

Mindscape, the subject of this dissertation, is a centre for creative and holistic development in Sunnyside, which will demonstrate how built environments communicate with users through their perception and sensory exploration. The topic covers various fields. The context of the study will be discussed initially, followed by the brief itself. Thereafter, the findings resulting from research conducted in the fields of developmental and environmental psychology ill be provided. Architectural theory will then be investigated. The study will conclude with the interpretation of these findings into a new architectural form, supported by design studies and analytical tools. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Architecture / Unrestricted

Using the action-based model of dissonance (Harmon-Jones, Amodio, & Harmon-Jones, 2009) and self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2008) as theoretical frameworks, this thesis sought to explain the motivational processes underlying the environmental belief-action gap. The thesis examined why and how people resolve inconsistencies between their favourable attitudes toward environmental protection and their environmentally harmful behaviour. I hypothesized that accounting for individual differences in autonomous and controlled distal motives for effective and unconflicted action would clarify why attitude-behaviour inconsistencies are uncomfortable and explain how people compensate for them. I carried out 3 sets of studies to test the proposed hierarchical action-based model of inconsistency compensation in the environmental domain (HABICE). The objective of the first set of 3 studies was to test hypotheses about the role of individual differences in global and contextual motivation on dissonance arousal, in response to native attitude-behaviour inconsistencies encountered across and within important life domains. The second set of 3 studies tested hypotheses about the role of individual differences in contextual motivation toward the environment on the use and choice of strategies to compensate for a recent native inconsistency in the environmental domain. Finally, the goal of the final study was to test hypotheses about the moderating effect of social factors that direct attention to public (ego-invested) versus private (authentic) aspects of the self during the perception of inconsistencies on motivation and intentions to revise pro-global warming mitigation attitudes. The results of the 7 studies (total N = 2,209) supported the main predictions of the HABICE. The cumulative evidence supported the existence of two motivational orientations operating during inconsistency compensation processes. The autonomous motivational orientation, which embodies action tendencies to facilitate organismic integration via authentic regulation, motivated people to compensate for attitude-behaviour inconsistencies to restore the integrity of authentic self-structures. As a result, autonomous motivation toward the environment led people to reduce dissonance and to compensate for perceived inconsistencies by bringing their behaviour in line with self-relevant attitudes. The controlled motivational orientation, which embodies action tendencies to facilitate instrumental outcomes via contingent regulation, motivated people to compensate for attitude-behaviour inconsistencies to protect ego-invested self-structures by avoiding the aversive consequences of their counter-environmental actions. When inconsistencies aroused dissonance, controlled motivation predicted the use of overt behavioural strategies, for example enacting a compensatory pro-environmental action, to reduce dissonance. However, when inconsistencies did not arouse dissonance or there were barriers to behaviour change, controlled motivation predicted the use of cognitive strategies, for example revising or distorting pro-environmental attitudes, to minimize the inconsistency. Consequently, autonomous compensation processes predicted relatively infrequent attitude-behaviour inconsistencies in the environmental domain while controlled compensation processes predicted relatively frequent inconsistencies. The results imply that controlled motivation toward the environment may be driving the environmental belief-action gap, but that finding ways to promote autonomous motivation toward the environment in the general population has the potential to alleviate the gap.

Environmental degradation and biodiversity loss are worldwide problems caused by human activities, which can often be classified as a resource dilemma. This thesis examines one of the more studied interventions in social dilemmas for increasing cooperative behaviour, namely sanctioning systems, in conjunction with one of the least studied factors in this area, i.e., intraindividual motivation and goals. Across three studies, and using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a framework, this thesis examines the relationships between motivation, goals, sanctioning systems and proenvironmental behaviour (PEB) in a resource dilemma (RD). The resource dilemma used in this thesis was a virtual, iterated, 2-person partnered design where each participant was required to make decisions about recreational fishing harvests in a small, private lake with an inferred partner. The ‘partner’ was not real, but was simulated by the program in order to maximize experimental control. Study 1 used mediational analysis to demonstrate that quality of motivation will affect goal content, and goal content will predict proenvironmental behaviour in an RD. Study 2 introduced a centralized sanctioning system to the RD, and found that this type of sanctioning system increased PEB in the RD when added, and decreased PEB when removed, concomitantly affecting the quality of participant motivation. Study 3 introduced a decentralized sanction system to the RD concomitant with pre-written communication for/against the inferred partner. Results demonstrated that self-determined motivation positively predicted the use of positive feedback messages, and negatively predicted the use of monetary sanctions. The results of this thesis expand upon SDT, and point to the potential importance of thorough examinations into the relationship between motivation and cooperation in RDs, and the importance of intraindividual factors in RD research. Moreover, it highlights the potential benefits and drawbacks of relying on sanctioning systems to increase PEBs in RDs.

It has previously been suggested that a person's behavior in a place is mediated by his or her plans, and by his or her emotional response to the place; but the possible interactive effects of these influences have not been explored. Not only may a particular mood be the goal of a plan, but the process of planning may also produce changes in the planner's mood. It is here argued that a person's emotional response to a place is influenced by the extent of the alterations the place requires be made in his or her plans. It has been generally assumed that a person's liking of a place is decreased if it does not fit his or her plan, but the experiments reported here indicate that some incongruity may actually increase liking of a place if the person is able to modify the plans. Three experiments examined the effects of planning on two dimensions of mood--pleasure and arousal--and for liking of places. In experiment one, subjects who had just completed planning a route for completing a list of errands reported higher arousal than subjects who had judged the time required to complete the same errands. In experiment two, subjects who executed their own plan reported higher pleasure than subjects who executed a plan they had been given. In experiment three, subjects who had to alter their plans to accommodate the unexpected features of a place reported higher arousal and pleasure, and increased liking of the place over subjects who did not have to re-plan. These results suggest that the process of planning has measureable effects on mood and that these effects influence place-liking. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Immigration has continuously been an evident part of the human history. Throughout time, for one reason or another people have left the place they call home. Whether voluntarily seeking better opportunities in other cities/countries/continents, or forcefully being asked to leave due to political, social, or natural issues, resettlement continues to be a difficult challenge for those who are displaced. The issue, human displacement, whether caused by natural disasters or political/social issues, is rather serious, especially in our world today. Whether the wildfires of California, the hurricanes of Louisiana, or political issues of Syria, there is a massive population who choose to or have to leave the place they call him. Despite many psychological and physical challenges, trauma, and difficulties that these individuals have to face, where they go next does not have to be a tough adjustment. Restorative environments, namely landscapes, allow for recovery of these individuals through its components of mystery, coherence, complexity, and texture. In the case of immigrants and refugees, the time of adjustment and adaptation heightens the absence of sense of belonging and potential social injustice; however, design and very particularly throughout this thesis, landscape architecture can help. Improvisation has one rule, "yes, and...". The notion of acceptance and addition allows for the involved individuals to not only be creative regarding their surroundings, but encourages them to become a part of evolving of the space. This, increases the sense of belonging, and therefore, makes for a more positive experience in a given space. This becomes specifically important for a displaced/detached group of individuals. / Master of Landscape Architecture

This study investigated several facets of the environmental coping process. Environmental coping was defined as any behavioral or cognitive attempt to reduce annoyance resulting from bothersome environmental conditions. In this study, library patrons using study carrels were observed while two people talked nearby. The library patron's behaviors in response to this event were recorded. In addition, self-report data were collected by means of follow-up questionnaires. Drawing on the literature from areas of research such as environmental stress, the coping process, and the effects of perceived control, four hypotheses were proposed. In summary, these hypotheses proposed that people would attempt to deal with the intrusion created by others talking nearby through indirect means first, and that people would attempt to"make do" (satisfice) rather than exert control over environmental events (optimize). Due to methodological difficulties, no definite conclusions could be drawn. Suggestions for methodological refinement in this area of research were offered and conceptual issues discussed. / M.S.

The aims of the present study were twofold: (1) to determine the effectiveness of various map formats in presenting mass transit information; and (2) to assess subjects’ internal representation of spatial features of the environment. It was hypothesized that bus route selection would be a function of both the amount of detail and the road structure presented in maps and that the effect of detail and road structure would depend upon the familiarity of the mapped area. A 2 X 2 X 2 (Familiarity x Detail x Road Structure) factorial design was employed in the experiment. The familiarity factor was manipulated by mapping a familiar area (Blacksburg, Virginia) and an unfamiliar area (an altered section of London, England). Detail was manipulated by including or not including roads and landmarks on the maps. Road Structure was manipulated by presenting roads in either a veridical or a simplified manner. Performance on a map reading task was used to assess the effects of the independent variables. Fourty undergraduate subjects were required to first locate two intersections on a bus route map and second, to determine a bus route between the two intersections. Five dependent measures of map reading ability were obtained. Results indicated that, for both familiar and unfamiliar areas, a veridical road structure yielded less errors and faster times for determining a bus route than did a simplified road structure, and that detail lengthened the time to perform the task. / Master of Science

In the field of urban planning, environmental psychology studies human relationship to places and settings, which are then categorized as the public's identities, attachments, and dependencies. Of interest to city planning, these findings can also be utilized in a design methodology. By giving particular attention to civic programs, this thesis presents a model for multi-scalar architecture and construction of place meanings. With urban, political, and historic networks contributing to place categories, ecological evolution provides developmental trajectories that can then be manifested through architectural design in civic and cultural institutions within city centers. From site selection through the design and execution of the project, the precedence is led by the people of past, present, and future, and the spaces they celebrate. The following is about the County of Arlington Civic Center, a multi-scalar perspective and design. / Master of Architecture

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