Special Collection: The Psychology of Senescent Environments

Guest Editors:
Jeremy C. Wells, School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, University of Maryland, College Park
Daniel J. Levi, Psychology and Child Development, Cal Poly
Erica Molinario, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland,  College Park

For the purposes of this special journal issue, the psychology of senescent environments is defined by three primary characteristics:

1. A central focus on old or “historic” environments from a theoretical and/or empirical research perspective;
2. Research methods primarily associated with environmental psychology (especially compared with other social science disciplines), such as behavioral mapping, environmental attitude measurement, phenomenologies, visual preferences, simulated environments, post occupancy evaluations, and neuroscience, among other possibilities;
3. A theoretical construct based on place identity, place attachment, environmental perception, and the settings in which certain behaviors occur.