Keith Diaz Moore

Vision and Values

Abstract As the formative figure in the emergence and development of Environment-Aging Studies, M. Powell Lawton influenced virtually every facet of this realm of research. Among his many contributions, Lawton helped shape the philosophical foundations which underlie the field and give direction to goals, theories, methods, and strategies of research. These philosophical foundations of Environment-Behavior Studies are analyzed from five complementary perspec-tives-axiological, ontological, epistemological, methodological, and praxeological-with particular attention paid to Lawtons position on each. Though unwavering in his position with regard to values, Lawton explored a variety of philosophical positions and continued to work to ward a meaningful synthesis of what are often seen as conflicting world-views.

A pragmatic environmental psychology: A metatheoretical inquiry into the work of M. Powell Lawton

Abstract Environmental psychology is a field of such great diversity—in topics of interest, research approaches, in disciplinarity—that it often appears to lack coherence, exemplified by its poor fit within paradigmatic frameworks found in academic psychology, resulting in its “outlier” status. This paper explores the work of the environmental gerontologist M. Powell Lawton, as an exemplar of environmental psychology research, suggesting that such a review renders greater insight into the current state of the field than any top-down applied conceptual framework. Themes discussed include Lawtons theoretical perspective on the person, the environment, and the relationship between them, his inquiry at various units of analysis; the type of knowledge valued as evidenced in his work; and his fundamental applied orientation, all of which are reflective of contemporary directions within environmental psychology as a whole. Reviewed is Lawtons final proposal that takes an “epistemologically inclusive” approach, embodying all of the themes above and reflective of inquiry sought within pragmatic psychology. As such, it is argued that environmental psychology may find great affinity with the pragmatic psychology approach currently gaining impetus within applied and clinical psychology.

An Ecological Framework of Place: Situating Environmental Gerontology within a Life Course Perspective:

This article presents an emergent heuristic framework for the core environmental gerontology concept of “place.” Place has been a central concern in the field since the 1970s (Gubrium, 1978) for its hypothesized direct relationship to identity, the self, and agency–suggestive of the appropriateness of lateral theoretical linkages with developmental science. The Ecological Framework of Place (EFP) defines place as a socio-physical milieu involving people, the physical setting, and the program of the place, all catalyzed by situated human activity and fully acknowledging that all four may change over time. The article begins with a concise overview of the EFP before moving on to consider it within three theoretical terrains: place theory, developmental science theory, and environmental gerontology theory. The EFP will be argued to be a place theory which subsumes themes of emergent environmental gerontology theories within a developmental science perspective. Implications for theory, method and practice are discussed. One of the strengths of the model is its ability to serve both research and practice, as is exhibited in its ability to incorporate applied design research and inform architectural decision-making so often lacking in other environmental gerontology models. Place should be viewed as an integrative concept providing opportunities for both environmental gerontology and developmental science to more critically concern the profound role places have in terms of agency, identity and sense of self over the life course.

Special Care Units as places for social interaction: Evaluating an SCU's social affordance:

This study is a multi-method, intrinsic case study evaluation of social interaction understood as a global dimension of Quality of Life (QOL) in a special care unit (SCU) for cognitively impaired older persons. The study proposes an initial means for describing and evaluating the social affordance of a place. Through the accumulation of similar case studies, care practice can make better informed decisions because of an awareness of successful or unsuccessful patterns that begin to emerge in the descriptive data. Reflecting the improvement-orientation of the evaluation, the SCU in question is found to have several factors-organizational and physical in nature which unwittingly thwart the therapeutic benefit of social interaction. The case study adopts an environment behavior perspective following the theoretical development. The focus of the evaluation is the consensual and social-normative aspects of social interaction.

Using Place Rules and Affect to Understand Environmental Fit A Theoretical Exploration

This article describes a multimethod intrinsic case study of environmental fit—as conceptualized by Lawton—in an adult day facility through assessing the relationship between competence and interpreted place rules as an indicator of consensually understood environmental press and observable affect as a measurable outcome. This research study of an adult day care serving people experiencing dementia suggests that Canters concept of place rules may be conceptualized as a consensual aspect of environmental press, interpreted largely through the observation of patterns of activity within a given physical setting. The congruence between the purposes that underlie these rules and those sought by participants is assessed through the aggregation of affect observations. The findings suggest that the degree of fit between the participants and their environmental milieu varies for each of four distinct groupings of participants. Aspects of the physical setting and its use associated with the assessed misfit are discussed.

Environmental Gerontology for the Future: Community-Based Living for the Third Age

The viability of the field of environmental gerontology depends upon whether it can make itself practically relevant by helping to resolve some of the urgent, real-world problems facing older adults. Many of the problems relate to which and how residential environments might best forward the goals and aspirations of an aging population. More attention should be directed toward improving the environments of choice of older adults, which are not institutional settings, but rather their own homes located in neighborhoods and communities. To help direct attention, this article begins by linking the concept of the Third Age with theories of environmental gerontology and summarizes key empirical understandings of autonomy and security at the community level because these are the essential environmental attributes for the Third Age. Taking into account contextual issues for community-based living for aging suggests that relocation in the pursuit of residential normalcy ought to produce a diversity of environmental responses. We then sketch out the different ways in which three models of community-based living in the Third Age—the leisure-oriented retirement community, the naturally occurring retirement community, and the villages model—reflect contextual issues as they relate to residential environments for the Third Age.

Neighborhood Integration and Connectivity Predict Cognitive Performance and Decline.

Objective: Neighborhood characteristics may be important for promoting walking, but little research has focused on older adults, especially those with cognitive impairment. We evaluated the role of neighborhood characteristics on cognitive function and decline over a 2-year period adjusting for measures of walking. Method: In a study of 64 older adults with and without mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD), we evaluated neighborhood integration and connectivity using geographical information systems data and space syntax analysis. In multiple regression analyses, we used these characteristics to predict 2-year declines in factor analytically derived cognitive scores (attention, verbal memory, mental status) adjusting for age, sex, education, and self-reported walking. Results: Neighborhood integration and connectivity predicted cognitive performance at baseline, and changes in cognitive performance over 2 years. The relationships between neighborhood characteristics and cognitive performance were not fully explained by self-reported walking. Discussion: Clearer definitions of specific neighborhood characteristics associated with walkability are needed to better understand the mechanisms by which neighborhoods may impact cognitive outcomes. These results have implications for measuring neighborhood characteristics, design and maintenance of living spaces, and interventions to increase walking among older adults. We offer suggestions for future research measuring neighborhood characteristics and cognitive function.

The question of evidence: current worldviews in environmental design research and practice

The popularity of the concept of evidence-based design (EBD) has exploded over the past five years, picking up speed as a topic of attention in environmental design conferences, papers and articles, and books. Rooted in the healthcare environment, the EBD concept has now bridged out to design of long-term care settings, housing and workplaces, as well as facilities management. While evidence-based design is indeed a seductive term for those of us interested in advancing research-informed design – portending linkages between research-derived evidence and environmental design – we cautiously note that, as of this writing, in its current conceptualisation, its clout is stronger than its clarity. This paper is a clarion invitation to the environmental design research community to consider the concept of evidence-based design as emergent, warranting careful, critical examination regarding its meaning and underlying assumptions.

Field Observations into the Environmental Soul Spatial Configuration and Social Life for People Experiencing Dementia

This article focuses on the important, facilitating role architectural design plays in social interaction within long-term care facilities (LTCFs) serving people with dementia. Here, we apply space syntax, a set of theories and techniques for the analysis of spatial configurations, as an objective measure of environmental characteristics. Almost 150 rounds of behavioral observations were collected in the social spaces of 3 LTCFs. Using the visibility and proximity metrics of space syntax, the locations of occurrence of various social activities in relation to the furniture and spatial layout on architectural floor plans have been identified. The results did not confirm the space syntax hypothesis that spaces with greater visibility and proximity promote more social interaction. Further analysis revealed that when in settings with better visibility and accessibility, the residents were more likely to engage in low levels of interaction. High-level social interactions actually were more likely to occur in settings providing greater privacy (eg, less visibility and accessibility). The findings suggest an important nuance that architectural configuration factors impact not only the likelihood but also the type of conversations likely to occur in certain locations. This would have implications for both design and staff training on how best to utilize social spaces for therapeutic effect, particularly within the context of person-centered care.

Creating SPOTs for Successful Aging: Strengthening the Case for Developing University-Based Retirement Communities Using Social-Physical Place Over Time Theory

Five elements are cited as being critical for a university-based retirement communities’ (UBRCs’) success: proximity to the university, two-directional programming, continuing care, a financial link to the university, and a minimum 10% resident connection to the university. We illustrate these criteria using examples from existing UBRCs. The comparisons are then contextualized in the broader framework of Social-Physical Place Over Time (SPOT) theory. SPOT theory focuses on the interactions between social and physical places among older adults. By analyzing the intersections between SPOT theory and UBRC criteria, we identify additional criteria to improve the definition of a UBRC: transportation support and facilitating activity. UBRCs offer value because they provide the social and physical place where older adults can live when they retire, thereby improving changes in individual agency and belongingness needs, which are key tenets of SPOT theory. The integration of the UBRC criteria and the SPOT theory framework builds on this relatively new meta-theory in environmental gerontology. SPOT theory effectively highlights how UBRCs benefit older adults and the community; UBRCs provide significant benefits not only to older adult residents, but also to the university communities that house them.