Introduction

Scholarly literature that addresses the concept of significant environments as defined by people's experiences is infrequent with the exception of the environmental autobiography literature (Lukashok & Lynch, 1956; Cooper-Marcus, 1978). This thesis attempts to explore what constitutes a significant environment and what characterizes the experience of significant environments at two different life stages (childhood and adulthood). It is concerned with those situations in which people live, work, and play, alone and with others, and is an attempt to look within individuals for their interpretations of the context within which they experience place. It compares descriptions of significant environments from childhood memories with descriptions of places considered to be important to adults now.

People live in a dynamic relationship with the world around them. Each lifestage of human development is characterized by its own set of interests, concerns and needs. As the activities and settings with which people are involved change, so does the meaning and nature of the interactions with the world around us. Places once integral to the everyday world become less important, increasingly peripheral, and are finally returned to on occasional visits or only through reflection and memory.

Therefore, an environment considered to be significant at one time is likely to differ from a significant environment at another time. This thesis tests the hypothesis that the difference between environments significant during childhood and adult years is related to perceptions and needs characteristic of each lifestage. For instance, vacant or undeveloped land with opportunities for site manipulation and physical play are expected to be important childhood environments in contrast to anticipated significant adult environments such as "scenic" parks or "wilderness." It is also expected that important childhood environments would be part of the everyday home range unless associated with special occasions such as vacations or visits to relatives. Outdoor environments important to adults are expected to involve places which provide opportunities to "feel one with nature" such as gardens or natural settings.

Though little has been written about how individual's experience of environment changes over time, intuitively it is expected that developmental or lifestage differences should affect how the environment is experienced and valued. Childhood accounts should emphasize direct physical interactions with the environment (i.e. running, jumping, hiding, digging, etc.), whereas adult experience is expected to be both direct and abstract, involving physical activities such as hiking or gardening, and emotionally engaging activities like scenic appreciation or self-reflection.

The concept of place is an idea helpful to an understanding about the nature of significant environments and how they are experienced. Environments that support an investment of meaning have been termed places. A significant environment can be thought of as a particular kind of a place.

Human experience of place includes not only the perceptions and valuations of environments as settings, but also people's feelings about places and what happens in them. Place is thus a combination of experience and the physical attributes of environment. Experience involves both cognitive and affective psychological processes as well as physical activities and, following Canter (1977), can be defined in three parts: 1) the identification or recognition of a place, 2) the feelings about or evaluation of the place, and 3) the behaviors and interactions that occur in the place.

Research that is of relevance to this thesis focuses on different aspects of the human-environment relationship. This research is divided into four main areas that have been addressed by many disciplines. Briefly, they are as follows: 1) place studies conducted primarily by geographers and environmental designers (Relph, 1977; Tuan, 1977; Seamon & Mugerauer, 198S; Sime, 1985), but more recently including research from environmental psychology (Canter, 1977; Stokols & Shumaker, 1981; Proshansky et al., 1983); 2) human environment research investigating the nature of human interaction with the environment carried out primarily by environmental psychologists (Altman, 1985, 1987; Wohlwill, 1983), and including non-empirical, humanistic studies (Cobb, 1977; Tuan, 1974, 1977, 1978; Lowenthal, 1976, 1978, 1987); 3) research investigating children's behavior and interactions with the environment (Marcus & Moore, 1976; Moore & Young, 1978; Hart, 1979; Moore, 1986) and 4) environmental preference studies that have focused on visual/aesthetic landscape preferences in adults (Kaplan, 1987; Ulrich, 1983, 1986).

This research has focussed on certain aspects of human-environment interactions, to the exclusion of others. This is due in part to the different emphasis of each discipline. Some research has emphasized the physigal environment, but neglected the human component, while other research has looked at human environmental interaction, but focused on the social rather than the physical environment. Still other investigations have focused on both the human and environmental components but emphasized only visual meaning. There are very few studies which have attempted an wholistic examination of human interaction with the environment. Hart (1979) is an exception.

The multiplicity of landscapes types (i.e. industrial, rural, office, commercial, and residential), both new and preserved, necessitates reflection on the part of the designer as to how these environments are valued. What meaning do these environments have for the people whose experience of the world is shaped in part by encounters with such "places". It is important for designers to know more about how people interact with environment at different life stages as well as understanding the role the environment plays in the maintenance of human well-being, for it is through personal attachment to place that a person acquires a sense of belonging and purpose which gives meaning to his or her life.

This thesis is organized into seven chapters. The first chapter (1.0) presents the study design, outlining the approach taken and the data requirements for the investigation. Chapter two (2.0) provides a discussion of topics and issues concerning the human relationship to nature. The third chapter (3.0) contains a review of the literature (mostly empirical studies) pertinent to this thesis. Chapter four (4.0) contains a description of the methodology and chapter five (5.0) presents the results of the study. Chapter six (6.0) provides a discussion of the differences and similarities noted for each life stage. Chapter seven (7.0) presents the conclusions and suggests directions for further research.