Glossary of Place Psychology Terms

Atmospherics – the science of designing an environment to create a certain “atmosphere” – particularly used in the retail environment.

Environment – 1. The circumstances, conditions or objects that surround us.  2. The vibrations that flow to us from people and places and objects, also the vibrations that are created inside us from our physiology, ideas and thoughts, emotions, attitudes. 3. The ocean of vibrations around us that we maneuver through on a daily basis.

Euthenics – 1. Improving people’s lives by improving their environment.  2. Creating optimum living conditions.  3. The study of how certain places have an  effect on people. 4. Improving human efficiency by environmental improvements.  A Euthenist is a person who studies and applies this knowledge.

Haptics -  1. The sense of touch.  2. The study of touching behav iour.  3. The study of the physical feeling of pressure or sensation.  The sensation is usually an inner call to some kind of action – eg, to reach out, or to move along a certain way. Haptics usually makes you want to DO something.  4. Environmental cues to act or behave in a certain way.

Haptic Design - A way   of designing with the awareness of how the design will make you feel. Design that deliberately plays upon creating certain sensations in you – eg a spooky environment or a romantic environment.

The main users of the word “haptics” these days are computer engineers, especially in the creation of artificial intelligence and virtual reality experiences.

Non-Place (or No-Place) – Spaces of such temporary, transient activity that don’t  have any significance or heart. Examples of non-places include airports, supermarkets, hotel rooms, and highways.  Non-places refer to a specific kind of space, often corporate or government, designed to be passed through or to do business inand then leave,  and make little or no attempt to create any emotional sense of enjoyment that might make you want to stay and relax.  Non-places are like the “fast food” of the environment.

Non-places are helping to fuel the crisis in social relations and consequently in the construction of individual identities through such relations.  Such places are often referred to as “soul-less”.

Place – A space that creates an positive and lasting emotional bond.  Often connected with the natural world, even if only symbolically.  Meaninful places offer a balance for connecting with others but also for privacy, and allow for individual imprinting.

Proprioception – sensing where your body is in realtion to the objects in your environment.  EG – sensing that your posterior is on a seat in a certain place and that your hands are on the keyboard and your neck is at a certain angle and that your feet are touching the floor in a certain way.

When you close your eyes and feel your body, you are using your proprioception to KNOW or sense where you are and how you are, in the space around you.

Proxemics – the study of the space around people, of proximity of other people and of objects in the environment, and what feels comfortable and what feels uncomfortable.  Often culturally determined.  What is comfortable for one group of people can be uncomfortable for others.

Psychogeography – the study of how the  geographical environment influences the emotions and behaviours of individuals.  People may be aware or not aware of this influence.  Often used in urban planning and architecture to encourage or discourage certain behaviours.

Topoanalysis – 1. exploring who you are by the places that are important to you. 2. Recognising that your home is the backdrop for your conscious being and unconscious being.  3. Study of your environment as a means of understanding your inner state of being.

Topology – knowledge of the environment, and recreating an equivalent version, as in a model, or as in rehabilitative reconstruction of an area.

Topophilia – 1. the love of (certain) places. 2.  the identification with a place 3. strong emotional connection or bonding with a particular place.