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Social and
Psychological
Consideration
s
Margallo, Abigael L.
201111712
TTH/ 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm
SOCIAL ANALYSIS
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
Human physiological needs are also relatively easy to specify. They
result from interaction of the inner biological condition of an individual with
the surrounding environment. People need food, water, air, exercise and
protection. A state of heath or disease may be regarded as an expression of
the success or failure of an organism to respond adaptively to the
environment changes. The process by which the individual maintain its
internal environment in an approximately permanent state is homeostasis.
This process is innate and automatic, resulting in the operation of body
mechanism and glands. Perspiring, shivering and sleeping are examples of
the bodys response to the environmental conditions.
Need can be fulfilled through the provision of nutritious food, clean air,
adequate and pure water, in addition to the elimination of disease with the
effective physical environment which allow for control of cold and heat. A
human comfort zone in which maximum and minimum temperatures and
humidity are specified has been developed by Olgay, suggesting an optimum
environment in terms of the homeostatic process, human comfort, and ease
of living. A semi-physiological need is the need for self-preservation and
avoidance of pain. It is a self-protecting device against physical injury and
death. The responsibility of city agencies to provide conditions of safety for
citizens has resulted in a series of regulations related and design
specifications to our need for security and fear of injury through falling.
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
Health is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity .The definition
adopted by the World Health Organization describes heath as a state of
physical, mental, and social well being. Thus we come to the third human
component component in the environmental design:human psychological
and social needs, behavioral patterns and tendencies. It is the most difficult
of the three sets of human factors to define and relate to the form of the
environment.
Human psychological needs and perception of the environment differ
according to a multitude of variables including age, social class, cultural
background, past experience and motives, and daily routine of the individual.
These factors influence and differentiate the need structures of individuals
and groups. Even if the same need is identified, the overt behavior is likely to
space so that it is free from ambiguity, and the selection of paving surfaces
to provide information about a place and its use.
The third group is described as individual needs. Some of these overlap
or are similar to needs of self-expression. Here we recognize the need of
people at certain moments in their experience and development of selfawareness to be utterly alone in a period of time, the need of privacy. There
is a strong need for acertain amount self-determination, for an identity ans
sense of personal uniqueness in the environment, and related to this a need
to be able to choose or make individual decisions about ones life.
The possibility of privacy today in urban environment becomes more
remote The design environment should make privacy a possibility. This is
most likely achieved by the dwelling itself. Privacy also may be attainable by
designing the outdoor environment to create areas less accessible to direct
use by urban population yet within minutes from it. Circulation should offer
choices. Within reason we should be able to do what we want. But we must
be careful that personal expression will not adversely affect the lives and
privacy and equal needs for uniqueness an identity of others in the society.
There is a potential conflict between self-expression and social needs.
There is variety of component needs making up the self-expression
group. They include the need for self-assertion and exhibition, for dominance
and power. There is also a need for accomplishment and achievement, for
prestige, and to be held in esteem by others. Ardrey calls this, the need for
status which is related to the need of territory.
Territory has been identifeied as oen of the three fundamental human
drives, the other two being status and sex. Laying claim to territory and
maintaining a certain distance from ones fellow may be considered a real
human biological nee.
There is a clear relationship between space and territory and animal
survival. We must be interested in the relationship between space and
behavior. Observations indicate that space limitations or crowding can force
people into stressful situations but if there are too much distance between
people, inhibiting conversation and use. A second aspect of importance A
second aspect of importance is the evidence of pronounced variations in
spacing mechanisms and personal space exhibited by people of different
cultural background and nationality.
3. User Requirement
3.1 Anthropometrics The study of human body measurement for use in anthropological
classification and comparison.
The figures of ambulant disabled people shown above are tall men. The
spaces shown for them are for forward movement, although in practice
ambulant people such as these are as a rule able with their mobility aids to
turn to the side to negotiate narrow openings. In the context of universal
design they do not
therefore have the same significance as for example wheelchair users,
pushchair users or electric scooter users, and they are comfortably
accommodated by circulation spaces suitable for independent wheelchair
users.
Self-propelled wheelchairs
In Britain it has since the early 1960s been the rule that a standard selfpropelling wheelchair has main wheels at the rear and castor wheels at the
front. Other standard features of the kind of wheelchair shown in 2.2 are
pneumatic tyres,
detachable armrests, swing-away detachablefootrests that are adjustable in
height, tipping levers at the rear and a folding cross-brace. The height of the
centre of the seat is typically at about 470 mm above floor level.
Wheelchairs of this kind may have domestic armrests, allowing the user to
approach closer to tables, wash basins etc. than where the armrests.
Attendant-pushed wheelchairs
The wheelchair shown in 2.4 has fixed armrests, fixed footrests, pneumatic
rear
wheels diameter 310 mm and solid front castor wheels diameter 205 mm. A
similar chair known as a car transit wheelchair has detachable armrests,
swing-away detachable footrests that are adjustable in height and a folddown
back. In and around public buildings the wheelchairs that people use more
often have large rather than small wheels; wheelchair users who are seen
being pushed along streets in wheelchairs with large main wheels as in 2.2
may be
able to move around independently inside
buildings.
The reclining wheelchair shown in 2.5 has
elevated legrests and a fully reclining back. As
depicted its length is about 1300 mm, but this
may be around 1750 mm where the backrest
has been lowered and the legrests raised to the
horizontal in order to accommodate a recumbent
person.
Powered wheelchairs
Examples of powered wheelchairs are shown
in 2.6 and 2.7. In and around public buildings,
small powered wheelchairs comparable to 2.7
are more commonly seen than large powered
chairs. A small powered chair may have length
and width dimensions of the order of 890 _
630 mm, a large one 1170 _ 680 mm.
The gradient of a ramp that a powered
wheelchair can be driven up is a function of
the weight of the disabled person seated in it.
As a general rule a typical powered chair can
manage a 1:5 gradient without difficulty. The
typical powered chair currently manufactured
is designed to carry a weight of 115 kg (18
stone), with the heavy-duty chairs that are
available being able to carry a weight of 165 kg
26 stone). There can be a danger of the chair
tipping over backwards if it is driven up a
ramp steeper than about 1:5.
Shower chairs
The mobile shower chair shown in 2.8 has a
perforated seat for drainage and brakes on all
four castor wheels.
Electric scooters
In Britain in recent years there has been a
steady increase in the use by disabled people
of electric scooters for mobility purposes.
Many have found that with electric scooters
they are more easily able to travel out around
local streets and shops and visit friends. A
related important factor has been the growth
of Shopmobility schemes, of which there are
now (September 2000) some 250 in towns and
location or routes when they are available. Check the volume of traffic or
frequency of flights to determine whether additional routes are necessary. If
sites are within 15 miles of airports, check noise zones and building height
restrictions for airport hazard.
Density. Density is an important sociological and legal element in most types
of development. In residential development, it is expressed in numbers of
families or dwelling units per acre. Density may also be used to express floor
area ratio or gross floor area covering the site.---if all floors were spread out
and assumed to be one-story in height as compared with total site acreage
Density may also influence privacy, freedom of movement, or social contact
among people.
Reference(s):
Land Use and Landscape Planning by Derek Lovejoy
A guide to Site planning and Landscape Construction by Harvey Rubenstein
Introduction to Landscape Architecture by Michael Louri