User's Perception and Evaluation of Environmental Functions: Developing a Conceptual Model

The present study seeks to investigate users’ perception and evaluation of the function of designed environments and highlights a deeper understanding of man-environment relationship. The study tries to answer the question: “Is there any relationship between the physical features of environment and users’ perception and evaluation of the environment and their spatial behaviors?” Such investigation contributes to prediction of users’ possible behaviors in designed environments, and consequently, leads to the promotion of designers’ knowledge and successful designed environments. The conceptual model introduced in this paper has been sketched using logical reasoning and a cultural- discourse approach. The model shows that users’ perception and evaluation of environment is related to the aspects of environmental design and the level of mental, social, and well-being effects such environments have on users. The proposed model significantly differs from all the previous models introduced in the literature of Environment Psychology, in that it puts emphasis on the process of evaluation and regards it as a dynamic and repetitive behavioral process. As this model suggests, environmental satisfaction is one of the factors reflecting users’ attitudes toward environment, which is expressed through spatial behaviors and influenced by users’ perceptions and evaluations from physical features of environment. In this model, spatial behavior is regarded as a physical reaction to users’ attitudes and the level of their satisfaction at environment. That is to say, spatial behavior can be considered as an observable index of users’ perception and evaluation of environment, which is influenced by their attitudes.