A study of proxemics can help us accomplish this by teaching us to
realize that the limits of the individual do not begin and end with this
skin. We must learn to think of man as surrounded by a series of
expanding and contracting space bubbles which are extensions of sensory
experience, touch, smell, feeling and seeing.
These space bubbles are not just empty air. They link you with the world and, at the same time, protect you from it. Too much pressure on these vital zones of interaction throws your life out of kilter.
Bubbles And Barriers:
The dimensions of the space bubbles varies widely with culture and ethnic back ground but if you are a middle class the space envelope around you can be divided into four easily recognizable and measurable zones.
The space closest to you, with in arm’s length of another person, is the intimate. This is the distance of lovemaking, comforting and protecting. When strangers cannot be kept out of this zone, as in a crowded bus or elevator, we experience stress. Intimacy is avoided only by keeping the hands, rigidly at the side, gazing blankly into space and remaining numbly silent.
The personal zone extends from arm’s length to about four feet, and is the area of private conversation. The third space bubble four to ten feet from the body is the social zone.
Here Are Five Steps Which He Suggests Should Be Taken:
* Let people participate in planning their own housing. Researchers, studying the effects of a vast urban renewal program in Boston, found deep depression and grief among the predominantly Italian West-Enders who had been relocated in various high-rise apartments. The razing of the buildings destroyed the entire complex of interrelationship which gave their lives meaning and coherence. We need more democracy and less bureaucracy in such programs. If people are involved in the initial planning, they can often work out their space needs.
* Make it easier to get in and out of cities. A city seems more spacious when you know you can get in and out of it easily. Rapid transit not only reduces traffic congestion but provide a much needed escape mechanism.
Disarm The Space Killers:
The aerial cesspools of pollution which hang over our cities bolt out the sky, give constricted city-dwellers about 30 minutes less daylight than rural inhabitants enjoy. Water pollution, in a river, a lake or an ocean, is another space killer; because it forms a barrier that hems people in. we must continue to fight them both.
Establish more contact with the out of doors. In one study, the error rate of computer programmers rose sharply after they had been moved to a windowless room. Yet modern architects are making increasing use of air conditioning and fluorescent lighting to take place of windows in new offices and classrooms. Man needs, at the very least, a room with a view.
Sir Winston Churchill put the whole problem in a nutshell when he said, “We shape our cities, and they shape us.” Shaping them properly should be our most important “space program.”
These space bubbles are not just empty air. They link you with the world and, at the same time, protect you from it. Too much pressure on these vital zones of interaction throws your life out of kilter.
Bubbles And Barriers:
The dimensions of the space bubbles varies widely with culture and ethnic back ground but if you are a middle class the space envelope around you can be divided into four easily recognizable and measurable zones.
The space closest to you, with in arm’s length of another person, is the intimate. This is the distance of lovemaking, comforting and protecting. When strangers cannot be kept out of this zone, as in a crowded bus or elevator, we experience stress. Intimacy is avoided only by keeping the hands, rigidly at the side, gazing blankly into space and remaining numbly silent.
The personal zone extends from arm’s length to about four feet, and is the area of private conversation. The third space bubble four to ten feet from the body is the social zone.
Here Are Five Steps Which He Suggests Should Be Taken:
* Let people participate in planning their own housing. Researchers, studying the effects of a vast urban renewal program in Boston, found deep depression and grief among the predominantly Italian West-Enders who had been relocated in various high-rise apartments. The razing of the buildings destroyed the entire complex of interrelationship which gave their lives meaning and coherence. We need more democracy and less bureaucracy in such programs. If people are involved in the initial planning, they can often work out their space needs.
* Make it easier to get in and out of cities. A city seems more spacious when you know you can get in and out of it easily. Rapid transit not only reduces traffic congestion but provide a much needed escape mechanism.
Disarm The Space Killers:
The aerial cesspools of pollution which hang over our cities bolt out the sky, give constricted city-dwellers about 30 minutes less daylight than rural inhabitants enjoy. Water pollution, in a river, a lake or an ocean, is another space killer; because it forms a barrier that hems people in. we must continue to fight them both.
Establish more contact with the out of doors. In one study, the error rate of computer programmers rose sharply after they had been moved to a windowless room. Yet modern architects are making increasing use of air conditioning and fluorescent lighting to take place of windows in new offices and classrooms. Man needs, at the very least, a room with a view.
Sir Winston Churchill put the whole problem in a nutshell when he said, “We shape our cities, and they shape us.” Shaping them properly should be our most important “space program.”
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