Environment Behavior Research on a Systemic Topic

Eve Klein, M.Arch, M.Phil, Visiting Lecturer, Pratt Institute

In this project you will explore a systemic topic through Environmental Behavior Research. This project includes a presentation and a paper on a topic that should address an issue that bridges societal concerns and physical spaces (like climate change, anti-racism, social gatherings in the time of COVID-19, daily living/working in the time of COVID-19, religious worship, health and wellness, etc.) This project will include data collection (environment behavior research that can be safely conducted with physical distancing OR using existing data sets), scholarly research, and written analysis. A recommended intervention or proposal for change is optional.

Reflexive Paper – Place Meaning During the Pandemic

Fernanda, Blanco-Vidal, City College

This paper is an alternative to the midterm “fieldwork paper” in which you were supposed to do observations and mapping in public spaces. Since we are now expected not to go outside, the idea with this project is to give you space to reflect on your own experience staying at home and being not able to walk around, visit people, and have in-person meetings. As we have discussed this semester, our relationship to place changes is based on what we experience or what kind of transformations people and places are exposed to. Place Attachment and Place Meaning are in constant transformation, and in this paper, you will be using your own experience to make sense of this transformative and dynamic process.

Expressions of Social Isolation

Dr. Zulmira Áurea Cruz Bomfim, Federal University of Ceará – Brazil

“Diários da Quarentena” (“Quarantine Diaries”, in english) are written affective expressions made by students, professors and collaborators of the Research Laboratory in Environmental Psychology (Locus) during social isolation, in the first half of 2020 in Fortaleza, Ceará (Brasil), resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. The main objective of the diaries was to help the group to deal with the difficulties and fears arising from social isolation considering the diversity of affections in the academic environment.

EP Topical Articles Evaluation

Dr. Valkiria Duran-Narucki, College of Staten Island

Find an article in a newspaper, magazine, or other journalistic media that addresses and EP topic of interest. Compare this article to an original study (empirical, peer-reviewed) reported in a scientific journal that addresses the same topic. Write a short paper about the topic using these two sources.