settlements environmental design · historically speaking, man's ways of living and settling down...

Historically speaking, man's ways ofliving and settling down were sponta-neous; they were shaped by impingingnatural environments. Early man ex-hibited little capacity for the deliberateorganization of his surroundings. Duringthe ages of our cultural evolution, how-ever, we have become increasingly capa-ble of intervening with nature.We are now assisted by a technology

which is able to make us live and func-tion in environments (for example, outerspace) totally alien to those that shapedus. The initial exhilaration that the im-age of technical omnipotence may havebrought us is being dampened by twoconcerns. In the first place, man in hissubjective experiences still relies onmechanisms of his early physical evolu-tion. The way we breathe, feed, move,and are aware of our senses is that ofCro-Magnon man. To what extent willman cease to be the measure of allthings in an artificial technical world?In the second place, nature has certainways to maintain a balance between herconstituent elements. To what extent isman threatening his survival by tech-nical interference which produces resultsintolerant of nature's self-regulatingmechanisms? Overpopulation, the threatof a final nuclear war, pollution, each ofthese results of our cultural progress, ifunchecked, is capable of extinguishinghuman life.

It is against this background that ourAAAS General Symposium intends tohighlight some of the considerations en-tering into environmental planning.The intensity and complexity of

emerging dysfunctions in man-environ-ment systems has produced a historicalsituation in which we are, by necessity,becoming a planning culture. Planning,the process of satisfying a multitude ofconflicting demands toward specific hu-man goals, is intrinsically difficult in ourparticular form of democracy. The polit-ical and economic milieu which pro-

duced our technological sophisticationis very often the same one which makesits effective utilization impossible. Thusthe "technical" solution is rarely com-mensurate with the political and eco-nomic impingements which operate onenvironmental decisions. This is essen-tially the planner's dilemma. Identifyingdecision processes which bring aboutviable environmental states clearly rep-resents one class of technical issues re-quiring attention of the scientific com-munity. There is yet another class of is-sues which also require intensified study.Successful environmental design andmanagement requires not only effectivedecision methods, but also a more com-prehensive understanding of functionalrelations wherein the social and be-havioral consequences of particular en-vironmental orders can be explained,predicted, and controlled toward therealization of individual and collectivegoals.

Environment is a ubiquitous term em-ployed as a conceptual convenience byseveral disciplines as they set about tounderstand the effects of one systemupon another. The environment of manis of primary and immediate concern,but this environment is composed ofmany interdependent subsystems withtheir own internal causal structures.Each discipline identifies environmentas consisting of a particular set of varia-bles and at various levels of analysis, forexample, a region, a city, an organism,a neuron. An integrated understandingof the ecology of man presents a formid-able problem indeed.The need for more sophisticated or-

ganizational tools for ordering man-made environments-for systematicallyrelating these to "natural" ecologicalsystems-is manifest. Of equal concernis the interdependent need for an in-tegrated, functional understanding of theeffects of man-made and natural en-vironments upon human social and be-

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Human Settlements and Environmental Design

AAAS Symposium * 28-30 December 1969 * Boston

measures upon environmental organiza-tion in a particular domain of current

SCIENCE, VOL. 166

havioral outcomes. Specifically we mustbecome more competent in understand-ing the interface between the variousinteracting environments and individualand collective human processes. Likeindividual and social behavior itself, thisinterface is frustratingly complex anddifficult to deal with in the context ofexisting knowledge. Understanding ofhuman biological and extrabiologicalphenomena required that man be takenapart; the task at hand requires that henow be put back together. We are thuswitnessing an abundance of attempts toidentify strategies for applying a dis-parate set of scientific and technicalresources toward the resolution of physi-cal and social dysfunction, for such isthe multivariate nature of the problem.The objective of this general symposiumtogether with related AAAS meetingsin the section on "The Design and Na-ture of Cities" is to develop an over-view of our environmental problems andpossibilities, with emphasis upon thehuman arts and sciences, the environ-mental design disciplines, and methodswhereby these resources interrelate to-ward a common purpose.The sessions are organized somewhat

chronologically, that is, how our presentsociophysical state evolved, what hasgone wrong, what kinds of research areneeded to respond, and some proposalsfor future environments.

Session I will explore the origins ofpresent environmental structures andideologies; the evolution of physical ex-pressions of community and privacy.Our dichotomized thinking about natureand culture will be discussed and com-parisons and contrasts will be madebetween this and other cultures withregard to man-environment organiza-tions and interactions.

Session II is intended to identify ex-tant environmental structures as thesebear upon conflicts among existing be-havior patterns. Also to be explicatedare disparities between these and broadersocial objectives.Having identified the disparities be-

tween human intentions and their ac-complishments as these are affected byextant environmental structures, sessionIII turns to certain areas of behavioralresearch as a basic resource in identify-ing means whereby more humanly rele-vant environments can be developed.Session IV then explores the implica-tions of empirically derived behavioral

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[The Bettman Archives]

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Present

[New York CityConventien andVisitors BuLreaui]

Future

The simplest form of the ideal Dynapolis. The expan-sion in one direction allows the center to expand with-out difficulty. [C. A. Doxiadis, in Cities of Destiny,McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1968]28 NOVEMBER 1969

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social concern. It will focus on thesocioenvironmental factors influencing

S the organization of and personal involve-ment in various life settings. The es-sential nature of home life, work, lei-sure, and recreation will be explored asa basis for the discussion.

Session V addresses issues related tonew environmental orders which move

outside conventional configurations.These new systems offer alternatives tohuman settlements as we know them.The emphasis in these discussions is onthe implementation of emerging scien-tific and technological developments inthe behavioral, biological, and social sci-ences, and the integration of these withinsights from artistic intuitions, subjec-

tive viewpoints from our experientialworld, and environmental design andmanagement approaches.

A. H. ESSERLetchworth Village,Thiells, New York

R. G. STUDERPennsylvania State University,University Park

Speakers and Topics

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Arranged by Aristide H. Esser;Gyorgy Kepes (M.I.T.); DavidLowenthal (American Geographi-cal Society); and Raymond G.Studer.

28 December, Morning

Session I: Historical Perspectives,David Lowenthal, chairman.

Conflict and Concordance in Ex-planations of Nature, Clarence J.Glacken (University of Cajifornia,Berkeley).

Envih onmental Ideals versusAmerican Institutions, Leo Marx(Amherst College).

Nature, Art, and Utility in theMaking of the Landscape, Hugh A.Prince (University College, Lon-don).Dysfunction East and West: Com-

parison and Contrast, Yi-Fu Tuan(University of Minnesota).Panel Discussants: J. Ralph Audy

(San Francisco Medical School),Marvin W. Mikesell (University ofChicago), and William Koelsch(Clark University.)

28 December, Afternoon

Session II: Social Dysfunction andEnvironment: Some Harbingers ofCatastrophe, Aristide H. Esser,chairman.Some Juxtapositions: Urban-

Rural, North-South, Black-White,Small Communities-Large Societies,Harold Haskins (Temple Univer-sity).

Racially Changing Communities,Peter Labovitz (Harvard Universityand Arthur D. Little, Inc.).

After Private Enterprise-WhatNext?, Robert Choate (Choate andAssociates).

Panel Discussants: Matthew Du-

SCIENCE, VOL. 166

mond (National Institute of MentalHealth), Nathan Glazer HarvardUniversity), Bernard M. Kramer(Tufts University), Florence Shelton(Harvard University), ConstancePerin (University of Chicago),Stephen Carr (M.I.T.), and JohnBuggs (Urban Coalition).


Session III: Research into Envi-ronment and Behavior, LawrenceHeideman, Jr. (University of Penn-sylvania), chairman.Environmental Factors in Growth

and Development, Richard Chase(Johns Hopkins University).The Human Environment as

Manifest Behavior, Israel Gold-diamond (University of Chicago).

The Impact on the Design Coin-munity of Research into Environ-ment and Behavior, Bernard Spring(C.C.N.Y.).

Panel Discussants: Irwin Altman(University of Utah), Kenneth H.Craik (University of California,Berkeley), Ido de Groot (Univer-sity of Cincinnati), Andrew F.Euston, Jr. (U.S. Department ofHousing and Urban Development),Bernard Kaplan (Clark University),and Kevin Lynch (M.I.T.).


Session IV: Living Environmentsfor Work and Leisure, BeverlyDriver (University of Michigan).

Recreation: A Generic or SpecificForm of Behavior?, Rolf Meyer-sohn (Herbert H. Lehman College).

Influence of Early Environmenton Recreational Behavior, WilliamR. Catton, Jr. (University ofWashington) .

Vacation Homes, Environmental

Preferences, and Spatial Behavior,Larry W. Tombaugh (U.S. ForestService and North Carolina StateUniversity).

Panel Discussants: Samuel Z.Klausner (University of Pennsyl-vania), William R. Burch, Jr. (YaleUniversity), James G. Kelly (Uni-versity of Michigan), Hugh C.Davis (University of Massachusetts),John B. Lansing (University ofMichigan), and Roy I. Wolfe (YorkUniversity, Ontario).


Session V: Future Environments,Jerome Wiesner (M.I.T.), chair-man.

Comprehensive Designs for RuralLiving, Hassan Fathy (United ArabRepublic).

Integrated Environmental Con-trol Systems, James Marston Fitch(Columbia University).

Social Planning and Action in theLight of Alternative Futures, Don-ald Schon '(M.I.T.).


Technology and the Future City,John McHale (State University ofNew York, Binghamton).

The Artists in EnvironmentalParticipation, GyorgyKepes (M.I.T.).

Panel Discussants: Topper Ca-rew ("New Thing" Art & Archi-tecture Center, Washington, D.C.),Hermann H. Field (Tufts, NewEngland Medical Center), Carl 0.Hodge (University of Arizona),Karl J. Ingebritsen (Reston), AlfredKazin (author), Donlyn Lyndon(M.I.T.), Michael Michaelis (Ar-thur D. Little, Inc.), and RaymondG. Studer.

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Human Settlements and Environmental DesignA. H. Esser and R. G. Studer

DOI: 10.1126/science.166.3909.1186 (3909), 1186-1188.166Science

ARTICLE TOOLS http://science.sciencemag.org/content/166/3909/1186.citation

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trademark of AAAS. is a registeredScienceAdvancement of Science, 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005. The title

(print ISSN 0036-8075; online ISSN 1095-9203) is published by the American Association for theScience

of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.Copyright © 1969 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement

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