Ph.D. Program in Architecture
Environment-Behavior Studies

Human restoration and the natural environment
[Gerald D. Weisman, Sherry B. Ahrentzen, Uriel Cohen]

Gowri has just completed her capstone paper in the Major Area of Concentration and developing ideas for her dissertation. Her area of study focuses on a persisting human response to environmental stress -- the seeking and/or creation of places for restoration. Research in environment-behavior continues to show that most places for effective and longer-lasting human restoration are environments with some/substantial degree of naturalness. The first instances of a restorative relationship between humans and the natural environment go far back in time, and have resulted in the conscious shaping of the landscape into special places for restoration. Gardens and green spaces are created and maintained while wilderness preserves are visited in search of restorative experiences.

Gowri's area of study offers a critical review of the research, different historical and cross-cultural perspectives on human-nature relationships, and methodologies used to study these relationships. It shows through a historical analysis, the recurring need for restorative experiences and people's efforts over time in seeking such experiences in various environments. Also illustrated is the consequent human intervention in shaping the landscape into places for restoration. The aim of this area of study is to identify sustaining physical characteristics of places for restoration.

Gowri, together with her colleague Shan Sivakumaran, had designed this website for the Ph.D. Program in Architecture at UWM under the supervision of Professor Gary Moore, and has been the Co-Webmanager since its launch in October 1996 until handing over the responsibilities to Jesse Voss

Self and reminiscence of place: Exploring themes among people with dementia in long-term care settings
[Gerald D. Weisman, Dale Jaffe, Christine Kovach]

Habib is currently a fellow of the Institute on Aging and Environment and is engaged in collecting data for his dissertation. A growing body of research literature in environmental psychology and social gerontology has pointed out that personally meaningful environments, or "places," such as, one's home, neighborhood, and city, are important part of one's self-identity, especially in old age. They provide cues to memories of life experiences and a means of maintaining, reviewing, and extending one's sense of self. The aims of this dissertation are: a) to explore the aspects of personally meaningful past environments remembered by people with dementia; and b) to assess the therapeutic efficacy of reminiscence of places. The methodology, based on a naturalistic paradigm, will involve: a) conducting and analyzing guided conversations on remembered aspects of past environments and associated emotions with residents in early stages of dementia in long term care settings; b) interviews with family members; and c) ethnographic observations in present settings.

Within her area of concentration, Housing and Cross Cultural Studies, Lynne's research interests focus on the relationship between immigrants and their physical setting. Specifically within this area she would like to understand what immigrants bring with them and what they leave behind. How does this change over time? How might this begin to influence how housing architects design for immigrant groups? Lynne is a Registered Architect in the states of Maine and Oregon.

Thermal comfort in the work place
[Gerald D. Weisman, Amos Rapoport, Lawrence P. Witzling]

Children and youth in developing contexts
[Gary T. Moore, Gerald D. Weisman, Mark Krueger]

Sandarshi's area of concentration pre-dissertation research will focus on issues related to urban children to gain a broad understanding of children's experiences, spatial behavior, and use of space in numerous urban settings around the world. Of particular interest are issues related to street children and homeless children and their use of the urban environment, with particular emphasis on their use of spatial environments.

Environmental imagery, meaning, and aesthetics
[Gary T. Moore, Amos Rapoport, Gerald D. Weisman, Brian Wishne]

Architectural designers pick up, give value to, and store images of three and two dimensional forms. This imagery has meaning embedded in it, and affects aesthetic values and decisions in the design process. Greg's intentions are to investigate the nature and relationships of imagery, meaning, and aesthetics and to seek out useful questions and theoretical concerns for the designer.

Socio-spatial analysis of women's home-based work: Identifying economic revitalizing aspects of live/work environments
[Sherry B. Ahrentzen, Amos Rapoport, Cheryl Ajirotutu]

Atiya's dissertation research will look at live/work situations in four neighborhoods of varying income groups in Milwaukee. It will be an in-depth study of the socio-spatial and temporal dimensions of women's home-based work in these neighborhoods. The purpose of this study is to identify patterns and themes that contribute towards women's economic development, as well as towards accommodation of multiple activities in the same place. The findings will be compared across all four neighborhoods to identify the similarities and differences among respondents of varying income and ethnic groups.

Atiya has received a doctoral dissertation grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She is currently working as a Research Assistant for HUD Outreach Project on a project on non-traditional housing.

Creativity?
[Gerald D. Weisman, Sherry B. Ahrentzen, Amos Rapoport]

Janetta is currently working as a Project Assistant at the Johnson Controls Institute of Environmental Quality (JCI).

Environment-behavior research utilization through public policy and regulation
[Sherry B. Ahrentzen, Sammis White, & Lawrence P. Witzling]

Place-experience for the cognitively-impaired
[Gerald D. Weisman, Sherry B. Ahrentzen, Amos Rapoport]

Keith is a fellow of the Institute on Aging and Environment, and currently working on a case study of a special care unit for dementia residents. He is also a co-author of a chapter (in press) with Dr. Uriel Cohen, entitled, "Integrating Cultural Heritage into Assisted Living Environments."

Behavioral, social, and cultural issues in residential environment research and design
[Amos Rapoport, Sherry B. Ahrentzen, Donald L. Hanlon]

Advanced programming methodologies in North America
[Uriel Cohen, Gary T. Moore, Lawrence P. Witzling]

Dissertation title: User Needs Programming for Facility Design: Patterns of Selected Practices in the U.S.A.

Dissertation defense Summer, 1998.

Knowledge production and use in community-based organizations: Examining the impacts and influence of computer-based information technologies
[Uriel Cohen, Sherry B. Ahrentzen, William C. Huxhold, Melvin King]

Laxmi's research interests center around community development and empowerment in general, and information technology applications in neighborhood and community environments in particular. She believes that her strength lies in placing the theory and practice of information technology use within the context of solving real world problems.

Her dissertation looks at information technology use among community-based organizations and examines its impacts and influence on participatory decision making and ultimately on individual and community empowerment. Laxmi is a past recipient of a doctoral dissertation grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She will be defending her dissertation in Fall, 1997.

Children's right to play: The effects of differences in home range on children's outdoor play and recreation in Canadian and U.S. urban environments
[Gary Moore, Uriel Cohen, Roberta Corrigan]

Shan is currently engaged in field work for hisdissertation and hopes to complete his data collection during Fall 1997. The purpose of his dissertation is to explore and understand the relations between home range and play opportunities for early and middle childhood age children of new immigrant parents in Canadian cities. The study will examine the home ranges of children in terms of cultural, age groups, gender, and physical environmental diversity and will look at their play opportunities within their home ranges, focusing on families of Sri Lankan origin. It is expected that as a result of this study, patterns of relationships between home range, diversity, and differential play opportunities will emerge. These patterns will have implications for urban policy, urban planning, and urban design.

Shan is also an active member of the Children's Environments Research and Design Group (CERDG), and in the Children, Youth, and Environment (CYE) Network within the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA). He currently works as the Program Assistant, Editor, Webmaster, and Listserv Administrator for the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium. Shan, together with his colleague Gowri Betrabet, had designed this website for the Ph.D. Program in Architecture at UWM under the supervision of Professor Gary Moore, and has been the Co-Webmanager since its launch in October 1996 until handing over the responsibilities to Jesse Voss

The environmental dimensions of altruism and cooperation
[Amos Rapoport, Sherry B. Ahrentzen, Linda R. Krause]

Jesse's area of concentration is a study in the socio-cultural paradigm focusing on the spontaneous emergence of altruistic, self sacrificial, or cooperative activities. He investigates the questions: (1) What environmental components have accompanied and sustained these occurrences?; and (2) Are there noticeable differences in the environmental design practices of cooperative cultures?

Jesse's work is influenced by recent advances in the field of simulation of adaptive behavior, and in particular genetic algorithms such as the recent prisoner's dilemma model. His Minor is on Metaphysics and Epistemology of Mathematical and Geometrical Knowledge in Islamic Architecture.

Jesse is a NCARB registered architect and currently holds registrations in California and in Wisconsin. He has extensive experience in Educational Facility and Commercial architecture as both Design Architect, and Project Architect. He also has extensive construction administration experience, and is a journeyman carpenter.

Beginning in September 1997, Jesse has taken over the responsibility of Webmanager for this site.

Environment and aging
[Gerald D. Weisman, Uriel Cohen, Gary T. Moore, Amos Rapoport]

Cross-cultural analysis of multi-family dwelling alternatives
[Amos Rapoport, Sherry B. Ahrentzen, Harry Van Oudenallen]