2002 - Issue 4

<i>Emotional Branding</i> is a primer for designs that connect human beings. The text highlights the influence of emotional bonds on people’s experiences.

I’m surprised at how much ground we cover in this issue, reporting on topics from good neighborhood design to what can help your clients (and you) sleep better at night.

Understanding and accommodating user needs is a sound design maxim. Researchers interviewed Seattle truck drivers to obtain their views on the design of commercial urban and suburban buildings.

Victor Regnier has been researching and writing on the issue of assisted living for over ten years. In this book, his third on the subject, his experience and insight in assisted living projects in Europe and the United States give him a depth of material to share.

Understanding the school as a teachers’ work environment is particularly important in light of current educational reforms that are changing the way time, students, and knowledge are organized in the high school.

Designers often like to review a project’s performance after completion because it provides information that can help perfect the design, or add value to the firm’s next project. Getting a client to recognize the value of such a review can be more difficult, because the value to the client is harder to quantify. Yet, a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) can facilitate organizational learning by the clients that sponsor it. How can this occur? 

Two studies examine how neighborhood and streetscape preferences affect pedestrian behavior. One study investigates how environmental aesthetics and neighborhood design affect walking for exercise, and the other examines visitor path-choice at urban intersections.

While many human choices have limited consequences, landscape preferences influence actions that ultimately help or hinder an area’s ecology. Several recent articles address varied aspects of this complex relationship. This is the first part of a two-part RDC review on the subject and its design implications.

What does it take to create not only a pedestrian-friendly place, but a place that pedestrians are drawn to?

Several articles from a special issue of Built Environment explores "sustainable buildings" and its associated practical consequences.