Concurrents – Environmental Psychology: Derailing Determinism
Life would certainly be peachy keen if we could claim that environmental design alone determines human thoughts and actions (this assumed cause-effect link is known as environmental determinism). If determinism prevailed, we could be certain that if we built a space that supports a particular type of behavior, desired and consistent space user performance would magically and always ensue. Want people to think more creatively or a group to have a preferred organizational culture? If determinism ruled the day, to achieve these difficult objectives we’d just need to provide workers with a space whose design reflects current research on spaces where people are most likely to think creatively, or an environment where an organization with the valued culture would thrive. I’ve been hearing deterministic comments at conferences recently, but also, happily, lots of responses to those comments from people who realize that with design, as well as most other things, …
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