ABSTRACT

We have covered quite a bit of ground, some of it not in as much depth or detail as we might have liked, and it is hoped that the reader will be inspired to follow up various areas of interest in other texts. I have tried to identify the major areas of contemporary environmental psychology and in so doing there have been many suggestions for future research. As a young field it has spawned many interesting ideas on the transaction between people and environments, and produced some conclusions that might guide future research and application. It is clear that it is the world inside the head, or the phenomic world which is individually constructed through interaction, that best explains behaviour and experience. In maintaining a healthy and happy relationship with ourselves and our world it is also clear that control and social support are important. We need to be empowered and supported by our environments and in this process the physical and social world are inseparable. In that we do have some control, autonomy and freedom to choose, we need to make wise choices in terms of the physical resources that we depend upon. There is much yet to be done in the field of environmental psychology, and in order to advance there is a need to be clear about the principles that guide our research and practice. Before going on to consider the potential future of the field it is important therefore to reconsider these basic principles which were introduced briefly in Chapter 1.