A symposium on "Environmental Cognition and Forming Environments" was held on November 14, 1992, at Tokyo University in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Man-Environment Research Association. The theme refers to the dual function of human environmental adaptation. Presentations were made under three subthemes: "Spaces for Personal Interaction", "School Environments as Life Space", and "Locomotion in Space". The discussions addressed several fundamental issues. First, forming environments means the formation of socio-physical entities, including human activities, and not merely creating built environments. Second, as was explicit in all the studies presented, environmental cognition has a function in integrating environment and behavior. Third, as suggested in the study proposal of the relations between environmental structures and acquired spatial schemata, the comparative study of driving and walking, and the spatial learning studies of the visually handicapped, contextual constraints of environmental cognition are bases of variety and creativity in forming environments. Fourth, effects of adaptation and changes in coping with experiences in the areas of interpersonal distance and crowding demonstrate the dynamic characteristics of environmental cognition. Further studies are expected,since the role of environmental cognition in forming environments is complex.
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