The Early Days of Architectural Psychology in The United Kingdom: An Intellectual Autobiography

Year 2022, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 1 - 18, 06.05.2022

David Canter

https://doi.org/10.55755/DepArch.2022.7

Abstract

The personal history is described, stating in the late 1960’s, that gave rise to an involvement in architectural, and later environmental psychology. This includes both the research activity and the emergence of a theoretical perspective of people’s active involvement in their surroundings that has been the basis of subsequent research and professional activity. The impact of particular areas of application, notably the study of human activities when caught in a building on fire, and other emergencies, facilitated the emergence of the concept of environmental roles and rules, which enriched the developing Psychology of Place theory. This autobiographical account leads to the unexpected involvement in the early 1990’s in contributing to police investigations. As in all autobiographies it is a work in progress, looking back in order to gain some understanding of the future.

Keywords

Environmental Psychology, The Psychology of Place, Purposive Evaluation

References

• Barker, R. G. (1965). Explorations in ecological psychology. American Psychologist, 20, 1-14.
• BPRU. (1972). Building performance. London: Applied Science Publishers.
• Bromley, D. B. (1986). Case study method in psychology and related disciplines. Chichester, England: Wiley.
• Canter, D. (1966). On appraising building appraisals. Architects’ Journal, December 21, 881- 888.
• Canter, D. (1968). Office size: An example of psychological research in architecture. Architects’ Journal, April 24, 881-888.
• Canter, D. (1969). Should we treat building users as subjects or objects? In D. Canter (Eds.), Architectural psychology (pp. 11-17). London: RIBA Publications.
• Canter, D. (1970). Need for a theory of function in architecture. Architects’ Journal, February 4, 299-302.
• Canter, D. (1972). A psychological analysis of The Royal Hospital for Sick Children: YorkhilI, Glasgow. Architects’ Journal, September 6, 525-564.
• Canter, D. (1974). Psychology for architects. London: Applied Science Publishers.
• Canter, D. (1977). The psychology of place. London: Architectural Press.
• Canter, D. (1983). The purposive evaluation of places: A facet approach. Environment and Behaviour, 15(6), 659-698.
• Canter, D. (Eds.). (1985). Facet theory. New York: Springer-Verlag.
• Canter, D. (1986). Putting situations in their place. In A. Furnham (Ed.), Social behaviour in context (pp. 208-239). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
• Canter, D. (1987). Research agenda for therapy studies that consider the whole patient. Complementary Medicine Research, 2, 101-113.
• Canter, D. (1988). Action and place: An existential dialectic. In D. Canter, M. Krampen, & D. Stea (Eds.), Environmental perspectives (pp. 1-17). Aldershot, England: Avebury.
• Canter, D. (1989). Offender profiles. The Psychologist, 21(1), 12-16.
• Canter, D. (1994) Criminal Shadows. London: HarperCollins.
• Canter, D., & Canter, S. (Eds.). (1979). Designing for therapeutic environments. Chichester, England: Wiley.
• Canter, D., & Rees, K. (1982). A multivariate model of housing satisfaction. International Review of Applied Psychology, 31, 185-208.
• Canter, D., & Stringer, P. (1975). Environmental interaction. New York: International Universities Press.
• Canter, D., & Tagg, S. (1975). Distance estimation in cities. Environment and Behaviour, 7(1), 59- 80.
• Canter, D., & Wools, R. (1970). A technique for the subjective appraisal of buildings. Building Science, 5, 187-198.
• Canter, D., Breaux, J., & Sime, J. (1980). Domestic, multiple occupancy and hospital fires. In D. Canter (Eds.), Fires and human behaviour (pp. 117-136). Chichester: England: Wiley.
• Canter, D., Brown, J., & Groat, L. (1985). A multiple sorting procedure for studying conceptual systems. In M. Brenner, J. Brown, & D. Canter (Eds.), The research interview (pp. 79- 114). London: Academic Press.
• Canter, D., Powell, J., & Booker, K. (1987). Psychological aspects of informative fire warning systems. Borehamwood, England: Building Research Establishment.
• Canter, D., Krampen, M., & Stea, D. (Eds.). (1988). Environmental perspectives. Aldershot, England: Avebury.
• Canter, D., Comber, M., & Uzzell, D. (1989). Football in its place: An environmental psychology of football grounds. London: Routledge.
• Donald, I. (1985). The cylindrex of place evaluation. In D. Canter (Ed.), Facet theory (pp. 173- 201). New York: Springer-Verlag.
• Farr, R. M. & Moscovici, S. (Eds.). (1984). Social representations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Furnham, A (Ed.). (1986). Social behaviour in context. Boston: Allyn & Baker.
• Groat, L. (1982). Meaning in post-modem architecture: An examination using the multiple sorting task. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2(1), 3-23.
• Groat, L. (1985). Psychological aspects of contextual compatibility in architecture: A study of environmental meaning (Unpublished doctoral dissertation), University of Surrey, England.
• Groat, L., & Canter, D. (1979). Does post-modernism communicate? Progressive Architecture, 12, 84-87.
• Hearnshaw, L. S. (1987). The shaping of modern psychology. London: Routledge.
• Kelly, G. A (1955). The psychology of personal constructs. New York: Norton.
• Kenny, C., & Canter, D. (1981). A facet structure for nurses’ evaluations of wards deigns. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 54, 93-108.
• Manning, P. (Ed.). (1965). Office design: A study of environment. Liverpool, England: Department of Building Science.
• Omotayo, F. B. (1988). A cross-cultural comparison of space use in the Hausa, lbo and Yoruba families of Nigeria {Unpublished doctoral dissertation], University of Surrey, England.
• Peled, A, & Ayalon, O. (1988). The role of the spatial organisation in family therapy: Case study. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 8(2), 87-107.
• Powell, J., & Canter, D. (1985). Quantifying the human contribution to losses in the chemical industry. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 5, 37-53.
• Quarantelli, E. L. (1957). The behavior of panic participants. Sociology and Social Research, 41, 187-194.
• Sommer, R. (1988). A better world not utopia. In D. Canter, M. Krampen, & D. Stea (Eds.), New directions in environmental participation (pp. 144-152). Aldershot, England: Avebury.