Papers by Michał Dębek
This article presents the results of six image and social function studies of Świdnicka Street. C... more This article presents the results of six image and social function studies of Świdnicka Street. Cross-sectional, qualitative and quantitative studies, including the method of cognitive mapping, were attended by 292 respondents. The group included the inhabitants of Wrocław, temporary residents of the city and entrepreneurs associated with the street, running shops and providing services. My exploration of the sources and probable physical foundations of the image of the street was inspired by the concept of the image of the city developed by Kevin Lynch, and pattern language of Christopher Alexander and his team. It turned out, among other things, that Świdnicka Street is lacking particular urban and architectural structures that are prerequisite for the proper functioning of high street, and that the good image of the street is not strongly associated with trade and services. Renoma, the leading and most attractive shopping mall and ex-department store of Świdnicka Street, was also most frequently cited by respondents as the only element of the street unambiguously metropolitan and commercial in character.
Although it has been assumed for many years that there is a relationship between the subjectively... more Although it has been assumed for many years that there is a relationship between the subjectively perceived quality of residential environment and quality of life, empirical evidence for the existence of such a link has been inconclusive. It is also assumed that the perception of residential environment in a certain way covariates with the behavior of people in this environment; Empirical support for this correlation is now all the more problematic. The objectives in the our research project were as follows: (1) enriching the current knowledge about those links between the perceived quality of various residential areas and their inhabitants' experienced quality of life , and (2) examining the co-variables between the sense of satisfaction with the residence and declared pro-social and civic behavior. For the purpose of our study, we proposed an original theoretical framework integrating several available man-environment-behavior relationship concepts with the more general homeodynamic regulation concept for achieving psychological balance. Sixty-two people aged 18 to 85 took part in the research. Two groups were identified in the analysis: young adults and seniors. No significant correlation was found between the respondents' perceived quality of life and their satisfaction with the quality of the environment they inhabited. It was almost exclusively seniors who undertook activities to benefit the residential area, and their life quality was correlated with this activity. Young adults turned out to be generally inactive. Correlations between pro-social and civic behavior and the residential area's assessed quality proved to be weak and simple, but had different directions and dimensions in young adults and seniors.
Shopping malls and shopping streets are environments frequented by millions of people daily. Mall... more Shopping malls and shopping streets are environments frequented by millions of people daily. Malls are purposively built and strictly managed, whereas streets are evolving more spontaneously. Are these different but popular retail environments, out there to meet human needs, a like fit for all of us? Do all of us perceive them in the same way? Do we all feel just as good in them? Use them just as often and enthu-siastically? We have set our research in a theoretical frame using one of the key concepts – describing the person-environment fit (P-EF) understood as a mental state giving rise to subsequent positive or negative states or behaviors. We assumed that the possible correlates of P-EF would be the person's personality , temperament, and their system of values. Our cross-sectional correlational study involved 122 people aged 18 to 40. We found the match with retail environments to be influenced by subject traits, among them: consumption style, social affiliation need and openness to experience. Interestingly, it also turned out that the fit with retail environments is but ambiguously connected with hedonism co-variance, and that shopping streets can make for a fit no worse than malls.
There have been increasing calls in environmental psychology for the standardized instruments mea... more There have been increasing calls in environmental psychology for the standardized instruments measuring people’s subjective perception of urban environment quality. One such tool is a commonly accepted and oft-cited questionnaire for measuring perceived urban environmental quality, the Perceived Residential Environment Quality & Neighborhood Attachment (PREQ & NA) Indicators, developed by a team of Italian researchers: Ferdinando Fornara, Marino Bonaiuto, and Mirilia Bonnes.
This article presents the results of the PREQ & NA’s adaptation study that we conducted in Poland. The adaptation project was divided into several qualitative and quantitative stages spanning April 2013 to December 2014. A total of 200 participants were examined, 99 women and 101 men aged between 18 and 89. We cooperated with six English and Italian translators. The results of our study demonstrated a factorial validity of the tool’s Polish language version relative to both the Italian original and its recent Iranian adaptation, which we used for comparisons with the data obtained in a non-European cultural area. In addition to describing the entire adaptation procedure and presenting its results, we propose that a number of minor but necessary modifications be made in the Polish version, as indicated by our analyses. Following a positive verification and discussion of the Polish adaptation’s convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity, we propose the final Polish version of the adapted questionnaire.
Social Space Journal, 2015
Nadodrze is a district in the central part of Wrocław sized over 110 ha and over 35,000 inhabitan... more Nadodrze is a district in the central part of Wrocław sized over 110 ha and over 35,000 inhabitants. In 2009-2013, a series urban revitalisation activities were carried out at a total cost estimated at 150,000,000 PLN (ca 36,000,000 EUR). One strategic objective of the revitalisation was to improve the image of the area; the development that had previously been perceived as vast slums area of Wrocław, ridden with crumbling, run-down tenements, poverty and general social pathology, was going to be transformed into a somewhat prestigious place of art and craft, which, according the revitalisers, has already happened. Empirical studies summarising the results of this spectacular and unprecedented in Poland revitalisation were lacking. This paper demonstrates the results of qualitative and quantitative survey of the image of the Nadodrze area carried out in 2013-2014. The study included 159 inhabitants of Wrocław, 79 women and 80 men, aged 18 to 78, and living either in the area covered by the revitalisation or in other parts of the city. It turned out that the image of Nadodrze, following a fouryear intensive revitalisation, did not meet the assumptions set out in the strategic documents outlining expected results of the project. Although the respondents did report undeniable changes in architectural and urban aesthetics, the settlement was still seen as run-down, rather dangerous, unattractive, and non-artistic. [full article in Polish]
Nadodrze to zamieszkiwana przez ponad 35 ludzi, zajmująca 110 hektarów część wrocławskiego śródmieścia. W latach 2009-2013 prowadzono na tym obszarze bezprecedensowe działania rewitalizacyjne, których łączną wartość szacuje się na około 150 milionów złotych. Jednym ze strategicznych celów rewitalizacji była zmiana wizerunku tej części miasta; osiedle spostrzegane do tej pory przez wrocławian jako rozległe slumsy pełne rozpadających się kamienic, biedy i patologicznych zjawisk społecznych miało się stać – a wedle niektórych autorów rewitalizacji – już się stało, miejscem artystyczno-rzemieślniczym i w pewien sposób prestiżowym. Tymczasem dotychczas brakowało empirycznego opracowania pokazującego wizerunkowe efekty tej, jednej z największych w Polsce, rewitalizacji. W niniejszym artykule przedstawiono wyniki jakościowych i ilościowych badań wizerunku Nadodrza przeprowadzonych na przełomie 2013 i 2014 roku. W badaniach wzięło udział 159 wrocławian, 79 kobiet i 80 mężczyzn w wieku od 18 do 78 lat mieszkających na objętym rewitalizacją obszarze oraz w innych częściach miasta. Okazało się, że wizerunek Nadodrza po czteroletniej, intensywnej rewitalizacji nie odpowiadał jednak założeniom zawartym w strategicznych dokumentach miejskich, związanych z zakładanymi efektami projektu. Mimo, że badani bezsprzecznie dostrzegli zmiany w architektoniczno-urbanistycznej sferze estetyki, osiedle było wciąż spostrzegane jako zdecydowanie zaniedbane, raczej niebezpieczne, nieatrakcyjne, i nieartystyczne.
Polish Journal of Applied Psychology, 2015, vol. 13 (1), 2015
My article investigated the drivers of shopping mall attractiveness. Which of various shopping ma... more My article investigated the drivers of shopping mall attractiveness. Which of various shopping mall qualities are key to building a mall’s attractiveness? This was the fundamental question in the crosssectional, survey-based correlational study. The participants included 384 adult Poles (192 men and 192 women whose median age was 22). The survey included 58 items – nine to measure the shopping mall’s attractiveness (its emotional impact, cognitive effect and the customer’s visiting frequency), and 49 to measure its hypothetical predictors. The investigated objects were six urban shopping malls in Wroclaw, Poland. It turned out that shopping mall attractiveness was driven mainly by their atmosphere and social positioning. Surprisingly, the more subjectively noisy and crowded the shopping mall was, the more attractive it appeared to be; commerce-related features, on the other hand, while usually treated as vital to a shopping center, contributed relatively little to the mall’s attractiveness.
The purpose of this article is to propose the relatively universal modern framework of person-env... more The purpose of this article is to propose the relatively universal modern framework of person-environment interactions. The theoretical grounds, such as K. Lewin’s Field Theory, A. Bandura’s Doctrine of Reciprocal Determinism, and contemporary integral approaches, are presented. Then, the original idea of the integrative-transactional framework for studying complex person-environment interactions is proposed. It includes the person, environment, and behaviour, all engaged in constant bi-directional and reciprocal interactions correlated to the specific mental states. These mental states such as person-environment fit, place attachment, place identity, place image, sense of place, and place satisfaction, as well as their possible behavioural correlates, are described and discussed. Critical dimensions of the person e.g. demographics, health, cultural influences, personality, knowledge, lifestyle, values, motives, and emotions are explained, conceptualised, and their possible indicators are discussed; so are the dimensions of the environment e.g. formal features, activities, functionality, social milieu, sensory stimulation, symbolic cues, physical coherence, and affordances. In the conclusion, the practical usage of integrative-transactional framework for studying complex person-environment interactions as a generalizable, highly usable and comprehensive conceptual toolbox for a variety of people-environment studies is presented. Also the need of extensive use of existing concepts rather than creating new, and the necessity to look for parsimony in modelling the people-environment relationships is discussed.
Współczesne funkcje handlowe wybranych małych miast województwa dolnośląskiego, 2014
This paper presents retail as a concept inherent both to the idea of the city, and to universal h... more This paper presents retail as a concept inherent both to the idea of the city, and to universal human needs. The author discusses the ideas of utilitarian and hedonic needs, closely related to the idea of urban retail. Next, the author goes on to outline the relationship between human needs and the evolution and functioning of various forms of retail – from the first marketplaces, through high streets and department stores, to modern shopping malls. The author concludes the article with some thoughts about the confrontation of modern urban planners with the expansion of the recent forms of retail, uniform and full-on retail chains. [full article in polish]
W artykule przedstawiono koncepcję handlu, jako nierozerwalnie związaną zarówno z ideą miasta, jak z uniwersalnymi, ludzkimi potrzebami. Autor omawia pojęcia potrzeb utylitarnych i hedonistycznych, ściśle związanych z miejskim handlem. Zarysowuje związek ludzkich potrzeb z ewolucją i funkcjonowaniem różnych form miejskiego handlu – począwszy od pierwszych placów targowych poprzez rynki, ulice handlowe i domy towarowe a skończywszy na współczesnych centrach handlowych. Artykuł kończy się rozważaniem o konfrontacji współczesnych urbanistów z ekspansją najnowszych, sieciowych, zuniformizowanych i coraz bardziej totalnych form handlu.
"Human attitude towards architectural objects depends on many factors. These include cultural, si... more "Human attitude towards architectural objects depends on many factors. These include cultural, situational, and individual conditions, as well as psychological distance towards the object. Yaacov Trope and Nira Liberman – creators of the Construal Level Theory (CLT) – maintain that psychological distance towards any object may signifi cantly infl uence psychological construction of the object; we construct psychologically distant objects more abstractly, and close ones – more concretely.
In this article we present the results of a study in which we manipulated the psychological distance towards architectural objects, making them more concrete (bringing them closer psychologically to test participants) by placing logos of chosen restaurant brands on their fronts. We were looking for an answer to the question: Is an abstract object (building) evaluated differently than a more concrete one despite the fact that both have identical formal features (color, shape, form)?
We tested 120 people. Experiment results support the assumptions of the CLT. Participants reacted differently to an abstract object (without a signboard) than to all objects made more concrete with restaurant logo signboards (including a fictional franchise). The differences in affective reactions were especially significant.
Reactions to objects on the same level of concreteness did not differ, even between varying brands. Regardless of brands, affective reactions towards more concrete objects (any signboard, any brand) were more positive than towards an abstract object (without signboard)."
Architectus 4(36)/2013, 2013
The article constitutes original quantitative and qualitative studies on attitudes towards archit... more The article constitutes original quantitative and qualitative studies on attitudes towards architectural structures carried out among 40 students of the faculty of architecture and practising architects as well as 36 students and persons who were not connected with designing in any way. The results of the discussed research confirm earlier reports published in the literature of the subject on this issue, namely that preferences in perceiving and assessing architecture between persons who are educated in architectural design and persons who are not professionally connected with architecture may be significant.
"The purpose of this article is to present major definitions of quality of life that have emerged... more "The purpose of this article is to present major definitions of quality of life that have emerged within man – urban environment relationship. The authors will focus on contemporary models and concepts of research methodology of this relationship. This will allow to present selected recent studies on the quality of life in urban environment from different parts of the world. The article points out problems in the reference books with the definition of both quality of life and the quality of the environment and the difficulties resulting from the lack of consensus in the field of operationalization of these constructs. We will highlight important issues connected with the lack of commonly applied methodology for the research of quality of life in urban spaces. In the final part of the article, we will present his subjective view of the key areas for future research. [full article in polish]"
This article is concerned with psychological aspects of the reception of architectural objects an... more This article is concerned with psychological aspects of the reception of architectural objects and crucial conditions of man–architecture relations.
The subject of the author’s interest constitutes assessments, emotional attitudes and behaviour declarations towards objects which differ in their external appearance.
A part of the research project entitled ‘Conditions of attitudes towards architectural objects’ which was carried out by the author in the years 2007 – 2010 is presented in this article. A particular emphasis was placed on a possibly comprehensive discussion of psychological bases of perceiving objects as well as the notion of attitudes declared towards them. The key elements of the author’s scheme which structuralise hypothetical determinants of attitudes towards architectural objects are also included in the article.
The body of the article constitutes the presentation and discussion of the results of the author’s research on attitudes towards particular objects which end in an attempt at answering the following question: do features of appearance such as shape, colour and structural diversity have major significance in the assessment of an architectural object?
Polish Journal of Applied Psychology vol. 10 (1), 2012
Research so far and hypotheses about psychological aspects of perception suggest that attitudes t... more Research so far and hypotheses about psychological aspects of perception suggest that attitudes towards objects can be affected by individual traits, especially temperament.
In this article the authors attempt to discuss whether attitudes towards architectural an object could be conditioned individually, at the level of temperamental differences. The authors reveal empirical findings on the relation of temperament to attitudes towards architectural structures featured in various shapes, colors and forms.
The study included 389 persons. The fundamental issue was addressed using 3D architectural models (with variable controlled formal features) and the author’s Questionnaire on Attitudes to Architectural Objects.
The obtained results are ambiguous: Temperament varies the attitude, but not unconditionally. Significant variation of attitudes due to temperament seems to affect architectural objects only with specific layouts of formal features. Nevertheless, the presented results can be treated as a premise for further research in this field of study.
e-kultura e-nauka e-społeczeństwo, 2008
Dębek, M. (2008). Psycholog w cyber-mieście: Możliwość weryfikacji hipotez na temat relacji człow... more Dębek, M. (2008). Psycholog w cyber-mieście: Możliwość weryfikacji hipotez na temat relacji człowiek -środowisko w modelach wirtualnych. [w:] M. Staszczak, B. Płonka-Syroka (red.), e-kultura e-nauka e-społeczeństwo (s. 193-210). Wrocław: Oficyna Wydawnicza Arboretum.
Psychologia współczesnego człowieka, 2010
"Proponowane przez architektów i urbanistów, a opisywane przez nauki społeczne rozwiązania w obsz... more "Proponowane przez architektów i urbanistów, a opisywane przez nauki społeczne rozwiązania w obszarze planowania przestrzennego mają służyć ludziom - dawać szansę realizacji ludzkich potrzeb, m.in. psychologicznych. Ciekawy jest jednak nie tylko sam proces dostosowywania przestrzeni fizycznej do ludzi. Interesujące wydają się również, jeśli nie przede wszystkim: geneza oczekiwań człowieka wobec jego środowiska oraz potencjalne możliwości realizacji tych potrzeb w określonych przestrzeniach.
Obecnie coraz bardziej naturalnym środowiskiem życia człowieka staje się miasto. Liczba mieszkańców miast rośnie w bardzo szybkim tempie i rozwijają się one na niespotykaną dotąd skalę. Jednocześnie, od czasów najdawniejszych do dziś, obszary miejskie są przestrzeniami budzącymi wśród ludzi liczne kontrowersje.
Warto zatem postawić przynajmniej dwa pytania: (1) jakie są uwarunkowania określonych oczekiwań człowieka wobec jego środowiska, a tym samym oczekiwania wobec kreatorów przestrzeni, oraz (2) czy, w jakim stopniu i jakie ludzkie oczekiwania, potrzeby i dążenia korespondują z określonymi środowiskami fizycznymi, tu: miastami.
W artykule tym autor próbuje pokazać, jak ludzkie potrzeby psychologiczne, pojmowane w różny sposób, są lub mogą być spełniane właśnie w przestrzeniach miejskich."
Conference Presentations by Michał Dębek
It was theorized for years about the significant positive relationship between quality of residen... more It was theorized for years about the significant positive relationship between quality of residential environments and quality of lives of their inhabitants. Moreover, it was assumed that environments of high quality foster neighborhood attachment. This, in turn, was believed to be positively related to civic activities such as pro-neighborhood behavior. To sum up: there were hypotheses about positive inter-correlations between quality of residential environments, quality of life, neighborhood attachment, pro-neighborhood activities and social capital. We verified these hypotheses.
In 2014 in Poland we adopted the Perceived Residential Environment Quality & Neighborhood Attachment questionnaire originally developed by Fornara, Bonaiuto and Bonnes (2003, 2010). We used it to gather assessments of various habitats in Wroclaw, Poland, a city of over half a million population. Then we used WHOQOL-BREF (2004) – an internationally recognized quality of life survey – to diagnose inhabitants’ assessments of their multidimensional quality of life. Finally we diagnosed their social capital (using our own Questionnaire of Social Activity in the Neighborhood developed in 2014); we asked especially about pro-neighborhood actions undertaken by abovementioned inhabitants in the last year.
In this cross-sectional correlational study we surveyed 182 dwellers of Wroclaw, 91 young adults (<30 y.o.) and 91 seniors (65+), including 120 women and 62 men.
We found very limited relationship between perceived quality of residential environments (PREQ) and quality of lives (QOL) assessed by their inhabitants. General QOL was weakly correlated with assessed environmental health, but only in seniors. Poor relationships of self-assessed psychological well-being with four in thirteen dimensions of environment occurred, but only in young adults.
Second, neighborhood attachment (NA) – a famous concept in environmental psychology – which was moderately correlated to PREQ, was also weakly related to general QOL as well as psychological well-being; but again – such relationship occurred only in young adults. No relationship was found of NA with physical, social or psychological well-being of seniors. Seniors were substantially more attached to their neighborhoods than young adults, but the place attachment was not a linear function of time of residence.
Third, NA was hardly correlated to the social capital, except moderate correlation to a specific form of social contacts in young residents and weak correlation to civic activity in all participants.
Finally, civic activity – the crucial social capital dimension – was negatively related to some aspects of PREQ (activity seemed to be caused by deficiencies of environment), but only in seniors. Social contacts as well as social-favor behaviors – other important dimensions of social capital – were correlated to multiple dimensions of PREQ but only in young people. Almost all of activities undertaken in neighborhoods correlated positively to psychological well-being, but only in seniors. In contrast, no aspect of well-being of young adults correlated in any way with their social capital or pro-neighborhood behaviors.
The quality of residential environments may be not as crucial to people's QOL and pro-neighbourhood behaviors as it was suggested in environmental psychology literature so far.
As we know from the contemporary Robert Marans’ (2002) model of neighborhood satisfaction, the qu... more As we know from the contemporary Robert Marans’ (2002) model of neighborhood satisfaction, the quality of the particular urban space is ‘in the eyes of beholders’ rather than merely in bricks and stones. The quality of urban life as well as quality of urban environments depends not only on the real, objective characteristics of these environments but - equally - on the subjective reflected reality.
One of the most inspiring and complete tool to measure perceived residential environment quality is the PREQ – a multidimensional index developed by Fornara, Bonaiuto and Bonnes (2003, 2010).
We are adopting the shortest version of this tool (Fornara et. al., 2010) to Polish language and Polish cultural conditions. First, we made a qualitative pilot study with 90 participants from various Polish towns in order to build up the semantic and conceptual universe appropriate for studying perceived environment quality across Poland. Then we wrote the PREQ questionnaire in Polish but structurally and ideationally parallel to the original one (in English); a sample of 167 Poles was used to verify the hypothetical factorial structure and reliability of the tool. Finally, we did the CFA and reliability tests to validate the tool for use in Poland.
Poszukując kolejnego wymiaru z tematu tegorocznych warsztatów, wybraliśmy się na wycieczkę po mni... more Poszukując kolejnego wymiaru z tematu tegorocznych warsztatów, wybraliśmy się na wycieczkę po mniej reprezentacyjnych miejscach Wrocławia. Tymi najbardziej zapomnianymi okazały się być okoliczne podwórka. Spodziewaliśmy się dostrzec ich społeczny wymiar, jednak ten często sprowadzał się do… osiedlowego kosza na śmieci. To on wymuszał przypadkowe spotkania okolicznych mieszkańców i był jedynym miejscem ich interakcji. Jednocześnie w analizie społecznej, urbanistycznej i psychologicznej jest on zwykle pomijany (...)
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Papers by Michał Dębek
This article presents the results of the PREQ & NA’s adaptation study that we conducted in Poland. The adaptation project was divided into several qualitative and quantitative stages spanning April 2013 to December 2014. A total of 200 participants were examined, 99 women and 101 men aged between 18 and 89. We cooperated with six English and Italian translators. The results of our study demonstrated a factorial validity of the tool’s Polish language version relative to both the Italian original and its recent Iranian adaptation, which we used for comparisons with the data obtained in a non-European cultural area. In addition to describing the entire adaptation procedure and presenting its results, we propose that a number of minor but necessary modifications be made in the Polish version, as indicated by our analyses. Following a positive verification and discussion of the Polish adaptation’s convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity, we propose the final Polish version of the adapted questionnaire.
Nadodrze to zamieszkiwana przez ponad 35 ludzi, zajmująca 110 hektarów część wrocławskiego śródmieścia. W latach 2009-2013 prowadzono na tym obszarze bezprecedensowe działania rewitalizacyjne, których łączną wartość szacuje się na około 150 milionów złotych. Jednym ze strategicznych celów rewitalizacji była zmiana wizerunku tej części miasta; osiedle spostrzegane do tej pory przez wrocławian jako rozległe slumsy pełne rozpadających się kamienic, biedy i patologicznych zjawisk społecznych miało się stać – a wedle niektórych autorów rewitalizacji – już się stało, miejscem artystyczno-rzemieślniczym i w pewien sposób prestiżowym. Tymczasem dotychczas brakowało empirycznego opracowania pokazującego wizerunkowe efekty tej, jednej z największych w Polsce, rewitalizacji. W niniejszym artykule przedstawiono wyniki jakościowych i ilościowych badań wizerunku Nadodrza przeprowadzonych na przełomie 2013 i 2014 roku. W badaniach wzięło udział 159 wrocławian, 79 kobiet i 80 mężczyzn w wieku od 18 do 78 lat mieszkających na objętym rewitalizacją obszarze oraz w innych częściach miasta. Okazało się, że wizerunek Nadodrza po czteroletniej, intensywnej rewitalizacji nie odpowiadał jednak założeniom zawartym w strategicznych dokumentach miejskich, związanych z zakładanymi efektami projektu. Mimo, że badani bezsprzecznie dostrzegli zmiany w architektoniczno-urbanistycznej sferze estetyki, osiedle było wciąż spostrzegane jako zdecydowanie zaniedbane, raczej niebezpieczne, nieatrakcyjne, i nieartystyczne.
W artykule przedstawiono koncepcję handlu, jako nierozerwalnie związaną zarówno z ideą miasta, jak z uniwersalnymi, ludzkimi potrzebami. Autor omawia pojęcia potrzeb utylitarnych i hedonistycznych, ściśle związanych z miejskim handlem. Zarysowuje związek ludzkich potrzeb z ewolucją i funkcjonowaniem różnych form miejskiego handlu – począwszy od pierwszych placów targowych poprzez rynki, ulice handlowe i domy towarowe a skończywszy na współczesnych centrach handlowych. Artykuł kończy się rozważaniem o konfrontacji współczesnych urbanistów z ekspansją najnowszych, sieciowych, zuniformizowanych i coraz bardziej totalnych form handlu.
In this article we present the results of a study in which we manipulated the psychological distance towards architectural objects, making them more concrete (bringing them closer psychologically to test participants) by placing logos of chosen restaurant brands on their fronts. We were looking for an answer to the question: Is an abstract object (building) evaluated differently than a more concrete one despite the fact that both have identical formal features (color, shape, form)?
We tested 120 people. Experiment results support the assumptions of the CLT. Participants reacted differently to an abstract object (without a signboard) than to all objects made more concrete with restaurant logo signboards (including a fictional franchise). The differences in affective reactions were especially significant.
Reactions to objects on the same level of concreteness did not differ, even between varying brands. Regardless of brands, affective reactions towards more concrete objects (any signboard, any brand) were more positive than towards an abstract object (without signboard)."
The subject of the author’s interest constitutes assessments, emotional attitudes and behaviour declarations towards objects which differ in their external appearance.
A part of the research project entitled ‘Conditions of attitudes towards architectural objects’ which was carried out by the author in the years 2007 – 2010 is presented in this article. A particular emphasis was placed on a possibly comprehensive discussion of psychological bases of perceiving objects as well as the notion of attitudes declared towards them. The key elements of the author’s scheme which structuralise hypothetical determinants of attitudes towards architectural objects are also included in the article.
The body of the article constitutes the presentation and discussion of the results of the author’s research on attitudes towards particular objects which end in an attempt at answering the following question: do features of appearance such as shape, colour and structural diversity have major significance in the assessment of an architectural object?
In this article the authors attempt to discuss whether attitudes towards architectural an object could be conditioned individually, at the level of temperamental differences. The authors reveal empirical findings on the relation of temperament to attitudes towards architectural structures featured in various shapes, colors and forms.
The study included 389 persons. The fundamental issue was addressed using 3D architectural models (with variable controlled formal features) and the author’s Questionnaire on Attitudes to Architectural Objects.
The obtained results are ambiguous: Temperament varies the attitude, but not unconditionally. Significant variation of attitudes due to temperament seems to affect architectural objects only with specific layouts of formal features. Nevertheless, the presented results can be treated as a premise for further research in this field of study.
Obecnie coraz bardziej naturalnym środowiskiem życia człowieka staje się miasto. Liczba mieszkańców miast rośnie w bardzo szybkim tempie i rozwijają się one na niespotykaną dotąd skalę. Jednocześnie, od czasów najdawniejszych do dziś, obszary miejskie są przestrzeniami budzącymi wśród ludzi liczne kontrowersje.
Warto zatem postawić przynajmniej dwa pytania: (1) jakie są uwarunkowania określonych oczekiwań człowieka wobec jego środowiska, a tym samym oczekiwania wobec kreatorów przestrzeni, oraz (2) czy, w jakim stopniu i jakie ludzkie oczekiwania, potrzeby i dążenia korespondują z określonymi środowiskami fizycznymi, tu: miastami.
W artykule tym autor próbuje pokazać, jak ludzkie potrzeby psychologiczne, pojmowane w różny sposób, są lub mogą być spełniane właśnie w przestrzeniach miejskich."
Conference Presentations by Michał Dębek
In 2014 in Poland we adopted the Perceived Residential Environment Quality & Neighborhood Attachment questionnaire originally developed by Fornara, Bonaiuto and Bonnes (2003, 2010). We used it to gather assessments of various habitats in Wroclaw, Poland, a city of over half a million population. Then we used WHOQOL-BREF (2004) – an internationally recognized quality of life survey – to diagnose inhabitants’ assessments of their multidimensional quality of life. Finally we diagnosed their social capital (using our own Questionnaire of Social Activity in the Neighborhood developed in 2014); we asked especially about pro-neighborhood actions undertaken by abovementioned inhabitants in the last year.
In this cross-sectional correlational study we surveyed 182 dwellers of Wroclaw, 91 young adults (<30 y.o.) and 91 seniors (65+), including 120 women and 62 men.
We found very limited relationship between perceived quality of residential environments (PREQ) and quality of lives (QOL) assessed by their inhabitants. General QOL was weakly correlated with assessed environmental health, but only in seniors. Poor relationships of self-assessed psychological well-being with four in thirteen dimensions of environment occurred, but only in young adults.
Second, neighborhood attachment (NA) – a famous concept in environmental psychology – which was moderately correlated to PREQ, was also weakly related to general QOL as well as psychological well-being; but again – such relationship occurred only in young adults. No relationship was found of NA with physical, social or psychological well-being of seniors. Seniors were substantially more attached to their neighborhoods than young adults, but the place attachment was not a linear function of time of residence.
Third, NA was hardly correlated to the social capital, except moderate correlation to a specific form of social contacts in young residents and weak correlation to civic activity in all participants.
Finally, civic activity – the crucial social capital dimension – was negatively related to some aspects of PREQ (activity seemed to be caused by deficiencies of environment), but only in seniors. Social contacts as well as social-favor behaviors – other important dimensions of social capital – were correlated to multiple dimensions of PREQ but only in young people. Almost all of activities undertaken in neighborhoods correlated positively to psychological well-being, but only in seniors. In contrast, no aspect of well-being of young adults correlated in any way with their social capital or pro-neighborhood behaviors.
The quality of residential environments may be not as crucial to people's QOL and pro-neighbourhood behaviors as it was suggested in environmental psychology literature so far.
One of the most inspiring and complete tool to measure perceived residential environment quality is the PREQ – a multidimensional index developed by Fornara, Bonaiuto and Bonnes (2003, 2010).
We are adopting the shortest version of this tool (Fornara et. al., 2010) to Polish language and Polish cultural conditions. First, we made a qualitative pilot study with 90 participants from various Polish towns in order to build up the semantic and conceptual universe appropriate for studying perceived environment quality across Poland. Then we wrote the PREQ questionnaire in Polish but structurally and ideationally parallel to the original one (in English); a sample of 167 Poles was used to verify the hypothetical factorial structure and reliability of the tool. Finally, we did the CFA and reliability tests to validate the tool for use in Poland.
- Martyna Maciaszek
This article presents the results of the PREQ & NA’s adaptation study that we conducted in Poland. The adaptation project was divided into several qualitative and quantitative stages spanning April 2013 to December 2014. A total of 200 participants were examined, 99 women and 101 men aged between 18 and 89. We cooperated with six English and Italian translators. The results of our study demonstrated a factorial validity of the tool’s Polish language version relative to both the Italian original and its recent Iranian adaptation, which we used for comparisons with the data obtained in a non-European cultural area. In addition to describing the entire adaptation procedure and presenting its results, we propose that a number of minor but necessary modifications be made in the Polish version, as indicated by our analyses. Following a positive verification and discussion of the Polish adaptation’s convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity, we propose the final Polish version of the adapted questionnaire.
Nadodrze to zamieszkiwana przez ponad 35 ludzi, zajmująca 110 hektarów część wrocławskiego śródmieścia. W latach 2009-2013 prowadzono na tym obszarze bezprecedensowe działania rewitalizacyjne, których łączną wartość szacuje się na około 150 milionów złotych. Jednym ze strategicznych celów rewitalizacji była zmiana wizerunku tej części miasta; osiedle spostrzegane do tej pory przez wrocławian jako rozległe slumsy pełne rozpadających się kamienic, biedy i patologicznych zjawisk społecznych miało się stać – a wedle niektórych autorów rewitalizacji – już się stało, miejscem artystyczno-rzemieślniczym i w pewien sposób prestiżowym. Tymczasem dotychczas brakowało empirycznego opracowania pokazującego wizerunkowe efekty tej, jednej z największych w Polsce, rewitalizacji. W niniejszym artykule przedstawiono wyniki jakościowych i ilościowych badań wizerunku Nadodrza przeprowadzonych na przełomie 2013 i 2014 roku. W badaniach wzięło udział 159 wrocławian, 79 kobiet i 80 mężczyzn w wieku od 18 do 78 lat mieszkających na objętym rewitalizacją obszarze oraz w innych częściach miasta. Okazało się, że wizerunek Nadodrza po czteroletniej, intensywnej rewitalizacji nie odpowiadał jednak założeniom zawartym w strategicznych dokumentach miejskich, związanych z zakładanymi efektami projektu. Mimo, że badani bezsprzecznie dostrzegli zmiany w architektoniczno-urbanistycznej sferze estetyki, osiedle było wciąż spostrzegane jako zdecydowanie zaniedbane, raczej niebezpieczne, nieatrakcyjne, i nieartystyczne.
W artykule przedstawiono koncepcję handlu, jako nierozerwalnie związaną zarówno z ideą miasta, jak z uniwersalnymi, ludzkimi potrzebami. Autor omawia pojęcia potrzeb utylitarnych i hedonistycznych, ściśle związanych z miejskim handlem. Zarysowuje związek ludzkich potrzeb z ewolucją i funkcjonowaniem różnych form miejskiego handlu – począwszy od pierwszych placów targowych poprzez rynki, ulice handlowe i domy towarowe a skończywszy na współczesnych centrach handlowych. Artykuł kończy się rozważaniem o konfrontacji współczesnych urbanistów z ekspansją najnowszych, sieciowych, zuniformizowanych i coraz bardziej totalnych form handlu.
In this article we present the results of a study in which we manipulated the psychological distance towards architectural objects, making them more concrete (bringing them closer psychologically to test participants) by placing logos of chosen restaurant brands on their fronts. We were looking for an answer to the question: Is an abstract object (building) evaluated differently than a more concrete one despite the fact that both have identical formal features (color, shape, form)?
We tested 120 people. Experiment results support the assumptions of the CLT. Participants reacted differently to an abstract object (without a signboard) than to all objects made more concrete with restaurant logo signboards (including a fictional franchise). The differences in affective reactions were especially significant.
Reactions to objects on the same level of concreteness did not differ, even between varying brands. Regardless of brands, affective reactions towards more concrete objects (any signboard, any brand) were more positive than towards an abstract object (without signboard)."
The subject of the author’s interest constitutes assessments, emotional attitudes and behaviour declarations towards objects which differ in their external appearance.
A part of the research project entitled ‘Conditions of attitudes towards architectural objects’ which was carried out by the author in the years 2007 – 2010 is presented in this article. A particular emphasis was placed on a possibly comprehensive discussion of psychological bases of perceiving objects as well as the notion of attitudes declared towards them. The key elements of the author’s scheme which structuralise hypothetical determinants of attitudes towards architectural objects are also included in the article.
The body of the article constitutes the presentation and discussion of the results of the author’s research on attitudes towards particular objects which end in an attempt at answering the following question: do features of appearance such as shape, colour and structural diversity have major significance in the assessment of an architectural object?
In this article the authors attempt to discuss whether attitudes towards architectural an object could be conditioned individually, at the level of temperamental differences. The authors reveal empirical findings on the relation of temperament to attitudes towards architectural structures featured in various shapes, colors and forms.
The study included 389 persons. The fundamental issue was addressed using 3D architectural models (with variable controlled formal features) and the author’s Questionnaire on Attitudes to Architectural Objects.
The obtained results are ambiguous: Temperament varies the attitude, but not unconditionally. Significant variation of attitudes due to temperament seems to affect architectural objects only with specific layouts of formal features. Nevertheless, the presented results can be treated as a premise for further research in this field of study.
Obecnie coraz bardziej naturalnym środowiskiem życia człowieka staje się miasto. Liczba mieszkańców miast rośnie w bardzo szybkim tempie i rozwijają się one na niespotykaną dotąd skalę. Jednocześnie, od czasów najdawniejszych do dziś, obszary miejskie są przestrzeniami budzącymi wśród ludzi liczne kontrowersje.
Warto zatem postawić przynajmniej dwa pytania: (1) jakie są uwarunkowania określonych oczekiwań człowieka wobec jego środowiska, a tym samym oczekiwania wobec kreatorów przestrzeni, oraz (2) czy, w jakim stopniu i jakie ludzkie oczekiwania, potrzeby i dążenia korespondują z określonymi środowiskami fizycznymi, tu: miastami.
W artykule tym autor próbuje pokazać, jak ludzkie potrzeby psychologiczne, pojmowane w różny sposób, są lub mogą być spełniane właśnie w przestrzeniach miejskich."
In 2014 in Poland we adopted the Perceived Residential Environment Quality & Neighborhood Attachment questionnaire originally developed by Fornara, Bonaiuto and Bonnes (2003, 2010). We used it to gather assessments of various habitats in Wroclaw, Poland, a city of over half a million population. Then we used WHOQOL-BREF (2004) – an internationally recognized quality of life survey – to diagnose inhabitants’ assessments of their multidimensional quality of life. Finally we diagnosed their social capital (using our own Questionnaire of Social Activity in the Neighborhood developed in 2014); we asked especially about pro-neighborhood actions undertaken by abovementioned inhabitants in the last year.
In this cross-sectional correlational study we surveyed 182 dwellers of Wroclaw, 91 young adults (<30 y.o.) and 91 seniors (65+), including 120 women and 62 men.
We found very limited relationship between perceived quality of residential environments (PREQ) and quality of lives (QOL) assessed by their inhabitants. General QOL was weakly correlated with assessed environmental health, but only in seniors. Poor relationships of self-assessed psychological well-being with four in thirteen dimensions of environment occurred, but only in young adults.
Second, neighborhood attachment (NA) – a famous concept in environmental psychology – which was moderately correlated to PREQ, was also weakly related to general QOL as well as psychological well-being; but again – such relationship occurred only in young adults. No relationship was found of NA with physical, social or psychological well-being of seniors. Seniors were substantially more attached to their neighborhoods than young adults, but the place attachment was not a linear function of time of residence.
Third, NA was hardly correlated to the social capital, except moderate correlation to a specific form of social contacts in young residents and weak correlation to civic activity in all participants.
Finally, civic activity – the crucial social capital dimension – was negatively related to some aspects of PREQ (activity seemed to be caused by deficiencies of environment), but only in seniors. Social contacts as well as social-favor behaviors – other important dimensions of social capital – were correlated to multiple dimensions of PREQ but only in young people. Almost all of activities undertaken in neighborhoods correlated positively to psychological well-being, but only in seniors. In contrast, no aspect of well-being of young adults correlated in any way with their social capital or pro-neighborhood behaviors.
The quality of residential environments may be not as crucial to people's QOL and pro-neighbourhood behaviors as it was suggested in environmental psychology literature so far.
One of the most inspiring and complete tool to measure perceived residential environment quality is the PREQ – a multidimensional index developed by Fornara, Bonaiuto and Bonnes (2003, 2010).
We are adopting the shortest version of this tool (Fornara et. al., 2010) to Polish language and Polish cultural conditions. First, we made a qualitative pilot study with 90 participants from various Polish towns in order to build up the semantic and conceptual universe appropriate for studying perceived environment quality across Poland. Then we wrote the PREQ questionnaire in Polish but structurally and ideationally parallel to the original one (in English); a sample of 167 Poles was used to verify the hypothetical factorial structure and reliability of the tool. Finally, we did the CFA and reliability tests to validate the tool for use in Poland.
- Martyna Maciaszek
In search for answers stated above, both correlational and qualitative research was launched. The study was conducted in Wroclaw, Poland. Over 300 participants were evaluating five shopping malls, including the oldest, post-communist one (opened in 2001), and the modernized former Wertheim Department Store (first opened in 1930). The author’s questionnaire based on shopper well-being dimensions proposed by El Hedhli, Chebat and Sirgy (2011) was used in quantitative survey. The qualitative data was obtained from participants by pen and paper method, including sketch mapping technique.
W wystąpieniu zaprezentowałem analizę wyników powyższego badania i spróbowałem przybliżyć następujące kwestie: (1) w jaki sposób młodzi ludzie mówią o swoich miejscowościach i okolicach; jakie nastroje wzbudzają w nich środowiska zurbanizowane? (2) Jakie elementy przestrzeni ich mieszkańcy uważają za „szczególne”, warte wspomnienia? (3) Co mieszkańcy lubią w swoich okolicach, a co wyjątkowo im się nie podoba? (3) Czego konkretnie brakuje dziś mieszkańcom miast; jakich potrzeb nie mogą zrealizować w okolicach, które zamieszkują?
Analizy wypowiedzi z powyższego sondażu mogą posłużyć m.in. urbanistom i planistom, jako pewna forma komunikacji z codziennymi użytkownikami ich kreacji oraz jako ciekawe inspiracje w myśleniu o tworzeniu nowych lub rewitalizowaniu istniejących przestrzeni współczesnych miast.
Podstawowe założenia Teorii Poziomów Konstruowania (CLT) Yaacova Trope i Niry Limerman (2010) wskazują, że percepcja określonego obiektu może być różna, w zależności od aktualnego dystansu psychologicznego obserwatora do tego obiektu. Inaczej konstruujemy obiekt daleki psychologicznie (przetwarzanie abstrakcyjne), a inaczej obiekt bliski (przetwarzanie konkretne). Zatem określone ustosunkowanie wobec obiektu, jako możliwy do zaobserwowania efekt konstruowania poznawczego, może być efektem przyjęcia wobec niego pewnego dystansu psychologicznego przez obserwatora.
Czy taka hipoteza jest prawdopodobna? Czy można eksperymentalnie zbliżyć psychologicznie obiekt architektoniczny do obserwatora? Jakimi środkami? Czy takie zbliżenie może skutkować zmianą ustosunkowania emocjonalnego wobec tego obiektu; czy może zmienić jego reprezentację poznawczą? W 2012 roku przeprowadziliśmy eksperyment, którego wyniki wydają się inspirujące i odpowiadają na powyższe pytania. Badania wpisują się w jeden z zasadniczych nurtów psychologii środowiskowej – rozważania o ocenach środowisk, przestrzeni i obiektów architektonicznych; ich źródłach i korelatach."
Wydaje się, że warto tu szukać pewnych prawidłowości a może też zastanowić się, kto i dlaczego ocenia atrakcyjność pewnych obiektów w określony sposób. Warto zapytać, czy i jakie uwarunkowania podmiotowe mogą odgrywać zasadniczą rolę we wspomnianych subiektywnych ocenach atrakcyjności obiektów.
To wystąpienie było poświęcone subiektywnie spostrzeganej atrakcyjności obiektów architektonicznych. Było to omówienie badania, w którym 389 osób oceniało atrakcyjność i adekwatność funkcjonalną określonych obiektów architektonicznych. Okazało się, że oceny te bywały skrajnie różne - zależnie od typu temperamentu obserwatora. "
oznaczać miasto kumulujące dużą wiedzę i doświadczenie, które umie wykorzystać,
aby poradzić sobie z rozmaitymi wyzwaniami. Po drugie, mądre miasto może być
swobodnym tłumaczeniem modnego anglosaskiego terminu smart city (...) Chcę pokazać, jak różne doktryny, postulaty lub choćby ulotne wątki w spojrzeniu na urbanistykę i architekturę kształtowały, kształtują współcześnie, lub będą kształtowały w przyszłości debatę o mądrych na rozmaite sposoby miastach oraz ich faktyczne kształty.
- Rynek, czyli my wszyscy: mieszkańcy, turyści, przedsiębiorcy... Oczywiście w rozsądnych ramach zdefiniowanych przez fachowców w planach miejscowych, wynikających z ogólniejszych strategii rozwoju miasta.
Dr inż. Michał Dębek (...) na początku roku zadał 330 studentom różnych uczelni kilkadziesiąt pytań na temat pięciu wrocławskich śródmiejskich centrów handlowych: Arkad Wrocławskich, Galerii Dominikańskiej, Magnolii, Pasażu Grunwaldzkiego i Renomy. Co wynika z jego badań?