WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY? In the present decade, when the environment is a concern for the human race, studying of environmental psychology is very relevant. The environment includes the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates. It is the natural world as a whole, or in particular geographical areas, as affected by human activity. The environment provides ideas, meanings, and affects behaviour just as the social settings, or age, or the developmental stage (Bell, Greeve, Fisher, and Baum, 2001). Proshansky (1976) says that the person’s physical world in the form of rooms, buildings, study halls, streets, schoolrooms, bedrooms, hospital wards, day-care centres, subway trains, apartment houses, etc., influence their behaviour too. Environmental psychology, thus, is one of the important branches of psychology that has brought a new perspective to study and understand the complexities of human behaviour and social-physical environments. Environmental Psychology deals with the environment at two different levels. It is concerned with the environment as well as the context of behaviour. At one level, environmental psychology studies how the environment determines which behaviour is possible and how it is possible. It is concerned with the properties of environment which act as determinants that affect human behaviour and mood. At the next level, environmental psychology is concerned with the consequences of behaviour on the environment or broadly with environmental problems such as pollution, recycling, and ecosystem issues. This is a very different focus, though it follows from a basic premise that behaviour and environment mutually affect each other. Environmental psychologists encompass both how the environment influences people and how people influence the environment. Thus, it is an interactive discipline (Bell, Greeve, Fisher, and Baum, 2001). Moving further, environmental psychology is the study of people’s complicated interactions with their surroundings. It differs from other major areas of psychology in that it is focused on the everyday physical environment.According to Gifford,larger environmental factors, such as social, political, economic, and cultural pressures, are also included in this field. Environmental psychology’s biggest strength is its multidisciplinary approach and recognition of the interconnected nature of behaviour and environment. Environmental psychology does not simplify things in an artificial way. Instead, it offers a framework of perspectives, research, and theories to aid in our understanding of how humans and the environment interact. Though there are no black-and-white answers, we may use bits and pieces from the body of work to better design the physical space for human needs. “The fundamental significance of environmental psychology for the design professions lies in its potential capacity to provide a body of knowledge—conceptual and empirical—for understanding the relationships between human behaviour and experience in the built environment,”- Proshansky in his paper, The Role of Environmental Psychology for the Design Professions. In the process of finding possible solutions for environmental problems, psychologists are using a practical approach by gaining information about the relationships between conceptual models of human behaviour. Environmental psychology is not only practically oriented but also incorporates the theoretical approach of traditional psychology. Environmental psychology is thus an applied field that involves research to improve our environmentalresource management.

Could convert this into points?

Environmental psychology is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the transactions between individuals and their surroundings.It examines how the natural environment or built environment shapes the individual. Environmental psychologist emphasizes on an individual’s transactions with their environment. They examine the human transactions in work space, home, natural environment, and how these are related to one’s satisfaction, subjective well-being, productivity and mental health. The term “environment” is defined extensively in this discipline, and it includes natural surroundings, social settings, physical environments, learning environments, and informational environments. The area has been dedicated to the establishment of a discipline that is both value and problem-oriented since its inception, prioritizing research aimed at solving complex environmental problems in the pursuit of individual well-being. Early definitions of environmental psychology emphasized the relationship between the physical environment and human behaviour. H.M. Proshansky (1967 b) defined environmental psychology as ‘the attempt to establish empirical and theoretical relationships between behaviour and experiences of a person and his built environment.’According to Encyclopedia of Social Psychology, environmental psychology deals with people’s homes, the workplaces and leisure settings, the visual impact of buildings, the negative effects of cities, the restorative role of nature, and environmental attitudes and sustainable behaviour.Russel and Snodgrass (1987) defined the field as the branch of psychology that is concerned with providing a systematic account of the relationship between humans and their environment.In the handbook of environmental psychology, Stokols and Altman (1987) defined it as the study of human behaviour and well-being in relation to the socio-physical environment. These definitions often point to the relationship between the environment and behaviour but do not really emphasize the bi-directional nature of the environmentbehaviour relationships since the environment affects the behaviour and behaviour also affects the environment. Also, these definitions arenot able to describe the nonbuilt environment and its impact on the relationship between behaviour and the environment as a whole. Recent definitions adopt more inclusive, holistic, and transactional approach on humanenvironment relationship. Gifford defines environmental psychology as “a study of transactions between individuals and their physical settings in these transactions individuals change their environment, and their behaviours and experiences are changed by their environments” (Gifford et. al, 2010). According to him, environmental psychologists work at three levels of analysis: a) Fundamental psychological processes like the perception of the environment, spatial cognition, and its effects on our personality. b) The management of social space: personal space, territoriality, crowding, privacy, and the physical settings, aspect of complex everyday behaviours such as working, learning, living in a residency, and community. c) Human interactions with nature and role of psychology in climate change (Gifford et. al, 2010).

From the article what is the scope of environmental psychology?

Characteristic Features of Environmental Psychology The four key features that characterize the field of environmental psychology are briefly described below (Steg and Groot, 2019):  Interactive Approach Environmental psychology is mainly interested in the interactions between people and their built and natural environment, it also takes into account the way the environment influences behaviour as well as which factors have an impact on human behaviour that can be helpful in improving the quality of the environment.  Interdisciplinary Approach Environmental psychologists often work in interdisciplinary settings and collaborate with other experts from other disciplines as this can help them in having a more holistic approach. Each and every discipline brings in a different point of view to the given phenomenon, when all perspectives are integrated, it helps in providing a comprehensive scenario to solve the problem at hand and answer questions accordingly.Environmental psychologists often work with architects, geography experts, cognitive psychologists, and social psychologists.  Problem-focused Approach Environmental psychology intends to solve reallife problems and often carries out studies in a manner that can be helpful in solving a problem but it also works relentlessly to study the various phenomenon, test theories, and understand and explain various aspects of human behaviour in the context of their environment and their interaction with the environment. The approach can be centered on the immediate surrounding of an individual and can be extended to a global level as well to deal with issues like global warming, climate change, ecological restoration, etc.  Diversity of Methods Approach Environmental psychology also utilizes qualitative and quantitative research methodologies as used in other disciplines of psychology. The distinctive feature of this field, in particular, is the way it uses various methods that are very diverse in nature and work through the problem or research work. The optimal method is often chosen by weighing the strengths and weaknesses of a particular type of method and then taking internal and external validity into consideration.

THE EMERGENCE AND GROWTH OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Environmental psychology is a relatively new field of psychology. Since the 1960s, four stages of its emergence have been established, in general—Seeds of Environmental Psychology; American transition; Architectural Psychology; andEnvironmental Psychologyfor its sustainability (Tiwari & Mathur, 2014). The origins of this field ofpsychology can be traced back to the German authors who put forth the word and spoke about this discipline of psychology. The American transition was a phase of time during which environmental psychology was seldom mentioned but its theoretical foundations were laid. Then it was the time of Architectural Psychology which later paved the way for environmental psychology focused upon sustainability. The origin of environmental psychology can be traced back to Hellpach, one of the first scholars who introduced the term “environmental psychology” in the first half of the 20th century. He studied the effects of various stimuli such as colours, forms, etc. Hellpach (1911) studied how different environmental stimuli, such as form and colour, the moon and sun, and extreme conditions impact humans and their lives. Further, he went on to study the urban phenomenon, such as overstimulation, crowding, and differentiating between different types of environments in his work and studies, including natural, social, and historical-cultural environments (Pol, 2006). Researches in environmental psychology were first outlined by Craik (1968) based on the dominant strategy of personality measurement. In this era, the work of Proshansky was significant. The growth of environmental psychology, as well as its current approach, is documented in a series of reviews published in the Annual Reviews of Psychology (Sundstrom et. al, 1996). When people became more aware of environmental problems in the late 1960s, the second period of rapid expansion in environmental psychology began. As a result, studies on sustainability issues, i.e., studies on explaining and modifying environmental behaviour to produce a healthy and sustainable environment, have been conducted. The early research in this field concentrated on air pollution (De Groot 1967; Lindvall 1970), urban noise (Griffiths and Langdon 1968), and environmental quality assessment (Griffiths and Langdon 1968). (Appleyard and Craik 1974; Craik and Mckechnie 1974). From the 1970s onwards, the scope of the research expanded to include concerns such as energy supply and demand (Zube et al. 1975), as well as risk perceptions and risk assessment in relation to (energy) technology (Fischhoff et al. 1978). The earliest studies on efforts to promote conservation behaviour, such as links between consumer attitudes and behaviour, were undertaken in the 1980s (Cone and Hayes 1980; Stern and Gardner 1981). Next came Gestalt’s contribution, it was Koffka who differentiated between geographical and behavioural environments. The geographical environment refers to the perceived environment. This school mainly emphasized upon environmental perception and cognition. Brunswick and Lewin’s study on human and natural environment interactions are trendsetters for future research and are also regarded to be the ‘founding fathers’ of environmental psychology (Gifford, 2007). Even though both of them havenot done significant empirical work that could be classified today as environmental psychology but, their ideas, such as the interaction between the physical environment and psychological processes and studying the human behaviours in the actual settings rather than artificial settings were pioneering and influential for many future studies that studied the interactions between humans and environment. Park, Wirth, and Milgram studied the influence of physical environment on behaviours and it was labelled as ‘Architectural Psychology.’The constructed physical environment (architecture, technology, and engineering) and how it affected human behaviour and well-being were given a lot of attention in the early days of environmental psychology (Bonnes and Bonaiuto, 2002). The political and social circumstances of the time influenced this attention on the built environment. The modern design attempted to answer post-war concerns such as adequate housing (Pol 2006). Most of the environmental psychological research looked at how to best design homes, offices, and hospitals for their intended users, as well as how environmental stresses (such as excessive temperatures, humidity, and crowding) affect human performance and wellbeing (Wohlwill 1970). Environmental psychology was established as a field of research to create structures that would promote behavioural functions. The post-world war scenario emphasized the fact to build better homes, workplaces, schools, hospitals, etc. It also was a period that attempted to reduce environmental stressors and optimize performance and well-being. This period from the end of World War II to the early 1960s belonged to Chicago school whose works were more towards the amalgamation of experimental and academic American tradition. In the 1970s, environmental psychology was concerned with establishing empirical and theoretical relationships between the behaviour and experience of the individual and his built environment. The analysis was for understanding human behaviour and experiences in terms of social processes and social organizations concerning the physical settings that provide the context for such behaviour and experiences. (Proshansky, 1976) By the 21st century, environmental psychology became concerned with addressing human problems, environmental psychology became more enriched, it included holistic sustainability, and also included ecological studies. Three journals disseminating knowledge in the field of environmental psychology are:

1. Journal of Environmental Psychology which represents the psychological perspective of research.
2. Environment andBehaviour which is an interdisciplinary journal.
3. Journal of Architectural and Planning research emphasizes architectural designing and its related fields. The Handbook of Environmental Psychology was published under the editorship of Daniel Stokols and Irwin Altman. This is one of the pioneers and significant books on environmentalpsychology (1987). The Handbook of Environmental Psychology presents a balanced and complete introduction of this rapidly growing topic, including the latest research and concepts in the field straight from the world’s best scientists and practitioners. This revolutionary resource presents you with a pluralistic perspective to the area as an interdisciplinary effort with ties to other disciplines, bringing together contributions from an international team of leading academics representing a variety of fields. The Handbook of Environmental Psychology is structured into five organized and accessible parts to provide a full understanding of the ideas, research, and applications at the forefront of environmental psychology today. It addresses a variety of themes and practical contexts. Part I concentrates on refining ideas, while Part II connects the subject to other disciplines, Part III on methodologies, Part IV on applications, and Part V on the field’s future. The Handbook of Environmental Psychology is a must-read for anybody dealing directly with the attitudes, beliefs, and actions that are ruining our environment and putting our lives in peril. It defines the ongoing revolution in thinking about how the environment and psychology interact.

RECENT TRENDS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Environmental issues such as climate change, pollution, and deforestation have been recognized as serious difficulties impacting people’s health, economic prospects, and food and water supplies since the beginning of the twenty-first century (IPCC 2013). It is also widely acknowledged that human behaviour is a major contributor to these environmental issues. Finding strategies to influence people’s behaviour to reverse environmental problems while preserving human well-being and quality of life is an ongoing and developing concern of environmental psychology. To this goal, a comprehensive concept of sustainability has been widely adopted, which incorporates environmental, social, and economic factors (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987). This broad concept of sustainability has grown in importance as a guiding and unifying element for environmental psychology research (Giuliani and Scopelliti, 2009). Indeed, it has been suggested that, over the past decades, the field of environmental psychology has gradually evolved into a ‘psychology of sustainability’ (Gifford 2007). Environment influences human behaviour and well-being. Environmental psychology thus studies the environmental risk perceptions and environmental stress. It also studies the positive influence of the natural environment on humans. Researches have been in this field to create a sustainable environment that supports human well-being and increases the quality of life. Environmental psychology also studied factors influencing environmental behaviour like values, social norms, affect, and conflicts between individual and collective interests. An integrative and multi-disciplinary approach is undertaken by environmental psychologists. The best example to depict this is the Chipko movement. A social event happened in the western Himalayan region in the 1970s, when a small-scale social invention (the Chipko movement) to rescue the forests spread far and wide. This is regarded as a significant rethinking of the significance of man’s relationship with nature. ‘Grassroots activists like those seen in India’s Chipko Movement have suggested a new alternative ecological approach in which insight into ecosystem interrelationships is gained through folk knowledge rather than scientific observation,’ argues Hannigan, a social scientist (Hannigan 1995: 119). Although Chipko’s success story has many social dimensions and interpretations, its articulation as a native cognitive model is an insider’s socio-cultural fabrication of the wisdom of those involved in the movement (Pirta, 2007). They emulated Gandhi’s nonviolent protest, drew on Hindu wisdom, made naturalistic observations, and synthesized data from a variety of sources. However, the leadership and organization of these community natural resource management initiatives are crucial for their success (Kellert et al. 2000). The other topics of research by environmental psychologists include encouraging proenvironmental behaviour concerning informational strategies, reinforcements, punishments, and persuasive technology and strategies for behaviour change. It also tried to develop various models that integrate interactions between man and environment. The future directions include challenges for environmental psychologists towards a greater engagement that are studied embracing sustainability as a central focus of research delivering many valuable insights and tools for promoting sustainability at local and global levels. Environmental psychologists are struggling to save the planet from environmental and social degradation and increase the well-being of the inhabitants. The further action of environmental psychologists is to increase the political relevance and applicability of their work. Finally, the initiative should be taken at the interface of science, politics, and society such as the establishment of international forums and bringing together knowledge and behavioural determinants of global environmental problems (Ehrlich and Kennedy, 2005) Such initiatives can take a significant role in engaging citizens, policymakers, globally to explore the moral elements and the consequences of choices about environmental psychologists can engage and contribute to interdisciplinary and trans-governmental solutions that make a difference from present to future generations. Environmental psychologists thus, should explore studying and researching on communities that are residing in areas that are tremendously growing and dislocated by the government for various projects and industrial developments

MAJOR RESEARCH METHODS IN ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY The main research methods used in environmental psychology-related research are questionnaire studies, laboratory experiments, simulation experimental methods, field study methods, and case studies. All the major research methods are discussed below briefly: a. Questionnaire Studies – These studies intend to provide a description of behaviours and also gather information about people’s opinions, attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions about various issues. These are also used in order to establish relationships between two or more variables. These became popular in environmental psychology for various reasons, such as these tend to have higher external validity, manipulation of environmental circumstances is a little easier, and these methods often incur lower monetary cost than the other methods. b. Laboratory Experimental Methods – These include studies conducted under artificial and controlled environmental conditions. Laboratory experiments are often helpful in establishing and understanding the causal relationships between variables. These methods are characterized by two main features: random assignment or randomization and manipulation. When the independent variable (IV) is only manipulated while keeping the other variables controlled or constant, any changes in the responses between the conditions will be attributed to the manipulation of the independent variable. Randomization refers to the technique used by researchers in which all the participants of the experiment have an equal chance of getting assigned to each experimental condition. Random assignment mainly decreases the chance that differences between the different experimental groups are caused by confounding individual factors like personality, socio-demographics, etc. These methods are often low in external validity and the result can not be easily generalized to real-world settings. c. Computer Simulation Studies - Real people or authentic environmental stimuli are sometimes impossible to use in the study. Studies involving thousands of people to learn about complicated systems or studies on how people judge future environmental scenarios are two examples. For this reason, environmental psychologists are increasingly turning to environmental simulations. Environments and/or humans are reproduced as exactly and realistically as feasible in this style of research. Immersive virtual environments created with computers to give participants a realistic impression of what it would be like to experience specific environments or events (De Kort et al. 2003), 3D visualization of data in Geographical Information Systems, or agentbased models of land use or resource use are examples of simulations. In general, simulations allow you to maintain some control over the environment, boosting internal validity while not jeopardizing external validity. d. Field Studies – Many environmental psychologists use field investigations and experiments to obtain high external validity without sacrificing too much internal validity. Field experiments have a high level of external validity because they are conducted in real-life settings. Internal validity, on the other hand, is relatively high because the experimenter attempts to control the situation by systematically manipulating independent variables (e.g., placing or removing a bin from the environment) and/or by randomly assigning participants to different study conditions (e.g., environments with and without bins). Internal validity is ensured when researchers can be relatively certain that any variations between conditions are due to the manipulations (rather than, for example, personality differences). However, because field studies take place in realworld situations, it’s impossible to account for confounding factors like changing weather or unexpected interruptions. Furthermore, random assignment is not achievable in many instances. e. Case Studies - A case study is an in depth study of a specific situation. it’s a way used when a researcher really wants to narrow down a really broad topic of research into one single case, i.e., a person, setting, situation, or event. for instance, the broad topic of urban environmental quality could also be studied in one particular neighbourhood where the municipality has recently installed garbage bins to tackle littering. instead of employing a strict protocol and close ended inquiries to study a limited number of variables, case study methods involve an exploratory, qualitative examination of one situation or event: a case. Qualitative research uses words or other non numerical indicators (such as images or drawings) as data. the most purpose of case studies and other sorts of qualitative research is to explore and understand the meaning that individuals or groups ascribe to a phenomenon. during a case study, people or events are studied in their own context, within present settings, such as the home, playing fields, the university, and therefore the street. These settings are ‘open systems’ where conditions are continuously suffering from interactions with the social, physical, historical, and cultural context to offer rise to a process of ongoing change, including ethnography, grounded theory, and phenomenology (Wolcott 2001). Although there will not be one objective truth of the interpretation of the phenomenon (Willig 2001).

ENVIRONMENT PSYCHOLOGY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES Let us explore the relationship of environmental psychology with other disciplines.

1. Environmental Psychology and General Psychology Environmental Psychology stresses upon the studies related to the influence of physical environmental factors like noise, crowding, heat, etc., on human behaviour, health, and feelings.General psychology is a much broader branch of psychology that intends to explore various principles that can be generally applied to humans that is strikingly different from the other specialized sub-fields of psychology who are more into finding the way in which people differ on the grounds of various factors.
2. Environmental Psychology and Biological Sciences The Research Commission of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1956 to hold a conference on the relationship between the physical, biological, and social sciences with regard to the problems of creating optimal environments for human activities. The conference was held in 1959 at the University of Michigan, and the main topic was the relationship between the physical, biological, and social sciences with regard to the problems of creating optimal environments for human activities. Prior to this, a preliminary seminar on the topic was held at the AIA convention in Cleveland in 1958, with architects, civil engineers, urban planners, psychologists, and sociologists among the attendees. The sciences of the physical, geographical environment and those of the ecological naturalistic environment, both of which showed a growing “human” or “anthropic” factor by the end of the 1960s, are examples of disciplines outside of psychology that contributed significantly to the emergence of environmental psychology. Each person’s perceptions are distinct, personal, and unique. Perception is the process through which a person assigns significance to their current external situation based on theirbehavioural centre. As a result, there is a strong link between environmental psychology and other sciences in many ways. It is easy to notice in one’s daily life.
3. Environmental Psychology and Human Engineering Human engineering is a multidisciplinary field that includes contributions from psychology, engineering, industrial design, and anthropometry, among others. It is concerned with the characteristics of human capability. In human engineering, the human factor is a physical attribute of an individual that is unique to that individual and determines human environment equilibriums. Human factors encompass all aspects of how humans interact with the world around them with the goal of enhancing operational performance, safety, and other issues. Human engineering contributes to improving the environment for humans in one way. As a result, it helps with the workings of environmental psychology.
4. Environmental Psychology and Applied Psychology Applied Environmental psychology attempts to improve environmental management for a higher quality of life and psychological development. It researches effective ways to protect the natural environment, better ways to develop towns and communities, and strategies to raise environmental consciousness among the general public.In town planning, psychology has a lot of applications. While planning the growth of towns, studies on how communities work, people’s psychological requirements, and their likes and dislikes should be taken into account. Since the environment moulds and limits behaviour, careful planning is required to achieve optimal happiness, efficiency, and growth.
5. Environmental Psychology and Community Psychology The influence of the social environment is the emphasis of community psychology, whereas the influence of the physical environment is the subject of environmental psychology. The study of social processes in physical contexts, as well as the psychology of social settings such as the home, workplace, and school, falls under the umbrella of community and environmental psychology. Bronfenbrenner’s (1989) ecological approach to human development has contributed to a better understanding of how the qualities of one type of environment, such as a family, are influenced by other aspects in participants’ life, such as occupational and educational settings.
6. Environmental Psychology and Architectural Psychology In many ways, there is a link between environmental psychology and architectural psychology. The study by Ittelson and Proshansky’s group in the United States looked at the link between architectural design and the behaviour of psychiatric patients. At the same time, other psychologists and psychiatrists in the United States and other nations were working on comparable research projects. Aside from that, Sommer created the notions of human “territoriality” and “personal space,” which would go on to have a huge impact on psychology in general, environmental psychology in particular, and architectural design.

ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE INDIAN CONTEXT Flora’s magic of colour and camouflage is appreciated by everyone. The creepers and plants convert the concrete structures’ dismal silence into scenes of beautiful feasts. Landscaping provides a welcome respite from congested streets. The diversity of flowers that are blooming all around are just breath-taking. Flowers are popularly used to decorate people’s bodies, buildings, and backyards. People are awestruck by a lush green forest teeming with animal life. It awakens people to the wonder of creation. Environmental psychology is concerned with the interaction of persons with their surroundings. It’s gaining traction as the human footprint on the natural world grows larger. The repercussions of human footprints make us aware of our obligation to nature. However, humanity has a long history of environmental concern, which is a component of our religious heritage. This worry has been expressed in modern science, particularly in the field of ecology. In fact, ecological psychology has a longer history than the global term ‘environmental psychology’. Environmental assessment, environmental perception, cognitive representation of the large-scale environment, personality and the environment, environmental decision making, public attitudes toward the environment, sensory environment quality, ecological psychology, and the analysis of behaviour setting, human spatial behaviour, behavioural effects of density, etc., were all covered in the first review of environmental psychology (Craik 1973). The word “environmental psychology” was useful as an inclusive and theoretically neutral term at the time, according to the reviewer. A specialized branch of psychology, such as ecological psychology (Barker 1965), is likely to be researched by a group of researchers within this large field. Ittelson et al. (1974), in a seminal paper, defined environmental psychology as the dynamic interaction between man and his surroundings(Indigenous approach to environmental psychology, Pirta, 2011). Environmental psychology studies the effects of the environment on behaviour, as well as the consequences of behaviour on the environment. Environmental psychologists typically take a multidisciplinary approach to their work. However, the solution is dependent on the problem. For example, the Gestalt technique is more suited to researching environmental perception(Ittelson et al. 1974). Conservation psychologists working in the field of biodiversity preservation, on the other hand, must collaborate with scientists. On the other hand, the global and local challenges of sustainable water and other natural resources necessitate historical, social, political, and ecological understanding, as well as good science and cooperative entrepreneurship (Ostrum 1999; Rogers 2008). Environmental psychology studies in India started approximately three and a half decades ago treating the environment as a separate entity and exploring the unidirectional relationship between the physical environment and behavioural outcome, social outcomes, psychologists adopted a social system perspective to analyze social problems and environmental issues (Padaki&Vyasulu, 1981). This perspective equated social problems with environmental problems and used a framework for analyzing social problems rather than environmental issues. Various reviews and surveys of psychology and social science during the 1980s and 1990s, find a limited of studies dealing exclusively with physical environment behaviour relations.Contemporary research on environmental psychology in India carried out with Euro-American psychological framework has focused on the human response to various environmental stressors such as crowding, noise, pollution, poverty, disaster, encroachment of territory and personal space, etc. and has ignored other aspects of the environmental problems and issue (Jain and Palsane, 2004). Research in environmental psychology in India has been dominated mainly in the area of crowding and growing populations. The development of environmental psychology in India refers to considering the problem and the work of social scientists, some research including territoriality (Asthana &Sexena, 1989), crowding (Jain, 1987), and deprivation (Misra, 2001). They all used ecological perspectives to study psychological adaptations. Cross-cultural techniques were used to examine the cognitive behaviour of three tribal groups in the states of Bihar – Birhour, Asir, and Oraon. The other aspect of ecological environmental research in India have been reviewed by Jain and Palsane (2004), Pandey (1998), and Pirta (2007, 2009a). In the 21st century, people were mainly concerned with the problems of nature like global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, and other pollutions. Psychologists are facing challenges and are trying to engage constructively in engaging in the developmental processes and framing of social policies that are pro-environmental and hints towards sustainable development. This approach has been highlighted by Mehta (2001), Pirta (2007, 2009b), and Tripathi (2003) in the Indian context. The future directions for research in the Indian context may include culture-specific methods that may be more appropriate for understanding environmental behaviour relations in the Indian socio-cultural and environmental context. To develop culturalinclusive environmental psychology in India, there is a need to analyse the environmentbehaviour relationship from a broader perspective which may be envisaged within the eco-cultural framework (Barry, 1977) because the person is perceived as an inextricable part of the human being as an integral part of the universe. As eco-cultural framework incorporates both socio-cultural and physical components of the environment in shaping human behaviours, it can provide culture-specific ways and means to deal with the present environmental crisis (Singh, 2008).

Personal Space Personal space is the immediate surrounding of someone, encroachment of which can make one feel threatened or uncomfortable. Katz (1937) used the term “personal space” for the first time while Hall(1966) was the first to coin the term ‘proxemics’ which is more or less similar to personal space.Sommer (1969) defines personal space as “an area with invisible boundaries surrounding a person’s body into which intruders may not come”. In his famous book entitled The Hidden Dimension, Hall (1969) defines personal space as a small protective sphere or bubble that an organism maintains between themself and others. In short, personal space is conceived as an envelope surrounding a person. The invasion of personal space by unwanted others leads to a general tendency of withdrawal and discomfort. Personal space is not fixed and stable but it changes considerably depending upon the context interacting persons and circumstances. It is directly linked to communicational channels thus it is the dynamic and active concept of human spatial behavior (Nagar, 2006). Hall proposes the use of 4 personal zones in social interaction (refer Figure 2.1) between individuals and a brief description of these zones is given below: i. Intimate distance – the interpersonal distance ranges from 0-18 inches. At this distance, strong sensory inputs like smell, body, heat, sound, and feeling of breath combined to create inescapable involvement between interacting parties. ii. Personal distance – the distance between the interacting parties ranges from 1.5 to 4 feet. This distance is used for most interactions between other people friends, and classmates mainly have fallen within this range. iii. Social distance – this distance ranges from 4-12 feet and is characterized by Hall as business distance. The transactions are formal between people who are not well acquainted usually adhere to this distance. iv. Public distance – This distance zone extends beyond 12 feet and usually, this is maintained between the speakers and the public.

Measurement Techniques of Personal space Although there are various ways and techniques that can be used to study and measure personal space but there are a few that are most widely known and used to measure this dimension. There are three general methods listed by Altman (1978) to measure personal space, these are as follows: i. Simulation Method It is a method where hypothases are tested for observed problems and corrective measures can be experimented with before they are implemented in the real setting. It was first developed by Kuethe (1962) in their study on social skills. Participants were asked to place miniature figures representing the self and others on board. Considerable consistency and organization in the individual arrangement of figures were reported.The methodology used by Kuethe stimulated several simulation techniques to measure personal space (Nagar, 2006). ii. Laboratory Method This is one of the most used methods to measure personal space, and the process most used is the stop-distance procedure. The participants are asked to approach at a point when they feel discomfort; this procedure is repeated for different angles of approach.The interpersonal distance between the participants is the measure of personal space. The stopdistance method and unobtrusive techniques are most suited for experimental and naturalistic studies (Hayduk,1978). iii. Field-naturalistic or Observation Methods The naturalistic method involved the unobtrusive observation of participants in actual interactions. A personal space study in a naturalistic setting was conducted by Gifford (1987). It is one of the effective methods for studying human-environment interaction. Cases on real-world phenomenon can be build upon which is not possible in other indirect methods. However, observation should be systematic and unobtrusive as much as possible.

Studies on Personal Space The major review on personal space is divided into three categories: i. Studies on Personal FactorsBhattacharya and Ghosh (2014) of the University of Calcutta conducted a study to assess the requirement of personal space by people between the ages of 21-30 years considering the gender differences and interaction with the same and opposite sex. It was found that personal space varies with the difference of gender considering the context of interaction with known person same-sex and known person opposite sex. The female group was found to be more aware of personal space rather than the male group. Of all the demographical characteristics – age and sex are two variables that are found to be very potent in determining personal space. Personality correlations of various kinds like dominance, warmth, extroversion/ introversion were found to be associated with personal space (Wiggins, 1979). ii. Studies on Cultural Factors/ InfluenceHall (1959) pointed out that space utilization varies across cultures and is directed towards supporting spatial zones. The research of Hall provides a comprehensive descriptive analysis of various cultural factors in the use of space in the perspective of culture. iii. Studies on Situational FactorsMany factors on personal space revolve around social aspects than the characteristics of physical settings. It has been found when the attraction between individuals is strong and friendly, the personal space can be reduced whereas when the bond is weak and unfriendly, space seems to expand. Altman (1987) did several studies on interpersonal relationships and personal space to confirm that when positive relationships are involved small personal space zones are preferred relative to those who are only acquaintances.

Applications of Personal Space Research The research on personal space has provided sufficient evidence that an individuals’ spatial needs can vary from person to person and from situation to situation. This can be used in cases of interior designing of the built environment and also helping people in creating their personal spaces with others keeping their preference of personal space in consideration. It can be applied to designing of homes, offices, schools, public spaces, etc.

Territoriality The concept of territoriality was originally used to understand animal behavior. According to Fisher, Bell, and Baum (1984), “human territoriality can be viewed as a set of behaviors and cognitions, that an individual or group exhibits based on perceived ownership of physical space.”According to Rousseau (1950), a civilized society emerged when someone marked off a portion of land and claimed it as his ‘own,’ while others accepted it. This was also the start of our desire for our own land and territory. Territory can be defined as a stationary area which is visibly marked or restricted, defended, and used by someone. It is basically a piece of physical space that one owns on permanent basis as well as temporary basis. Although, the concept of territoriality was originally used to study and understand animalbehaviour but it is not restricted to only animals. Humans are also similar to animals when it comes to territorial behaviour or territoriality in their nature. Humans put up name plates outside their houses, build boundary walls, fences, etc. These all serve as a marking or assertion that this is their territory.Territorial behavior serves individual needs and motives which include controlling, personalizing, and defending an area (Nagar, 2004) Territorial behavior refers to the way people use their space, communicate their ownership on their occupied areas. Territoriality is a set of attitudes and behaviors maintained by a person or a group that is based on the perception, attempted, or actual control of a physical location, item, or idea, and can include things like habitual occupation, defense, personalizing, and territory making. Territory and personal space seem to be similar concepts but the major difference lies in the nature of these two.Personal space is more of an invisible and imaginary space or boundary that is subjective to every individual whereas territory is a visibly marked boundary.

Factors influencing Territoriality Some factors that influence territoriality are discussed below:

1. Gender Gifford (1987),in his study on dormitories and beaches, demonstrated that when compared to females, males prefer larger territories. He attributed this preference of territory to be the result of socialization. These preferences for territoriality can be due to a result of internalization from a young age and being imbibed as gender roles set by the society and societal expectations.
2. Role of CultureSmith (1981) studied the behavior of people across different countries and the observed variations in the amount of territory across cultures. The study was conducted on French, Americans, and Germans. He concluded that even though there were similarities across these three nations but there were differences too like Germans had larger territories across cultures. Germans requiring larger territory than others can be attributed to their culture. Territory varies with population density and culture. This could also be due to the way a culture brings up an individual. It was also noted that across all the nations, males required more territory and groups of people required lesser territory than a couple or individual.
3. Situational FactorsTerritoriality varies from situation to situation.In a crowded bus or a market, the territory will be different, while in a library or at home the territory demarcation will be different. When we discuss territory, it is also important to take the context, situation, etc., into consideration.
4. Emotional Conflicts and Type of Territory It is reasonable to assume that maximum disputes are likely to occur in regard to primary or secondary territory. However, this may not be the case always. In general, people accept our delineated areas or territories and rarely enter them. It is common for public territory to be taken or occupied but we cannot do anything about it because it doesnot belong to us. A stranger cannot organize an event in other person’s garden but a stranger can easily take your preferred seat in the bus.But you just simply cannot create a fight over a seat always. This is why it is believed that acceptance of other people’s territoriality is viewed as a beginning of a civilized society.

Types of territories Many psychologists have researched the concept of territoriality.The widely accepted types of territory are given by Altman and Chemers (1980) and they are as follows: i) Primary territory This type of territory is of prime significance in our lives. It refers to a place that we believe to be our own on a relatively permanent basis. We have complete control over it. It is a place with a psychological attachment. An example for primary territory may be a study room, bedroom, etc. ii) Secondary territory This territory is comparatively less important than the primary territory. It is only temporary. There is lesser amount of personalization in this type of territory as compared to primary territory. For example, classroom seat in school. Personalization is less compared to the primary territory. iii) Public territory These are more objective and donot belong to any individual rather anyone and everyone can access this type of territory. Hence, the psychological feelings of ownership are less. Apart from these three basic types of territory described above, we can categorize territories in our own way as well with respect to our ideas, objects we own, our bodies and our interactions.

Functions of different types of territory Dittmar noted that territory not only serves a materialistic cost but also shapes our selfawareness. Porteous (1976) states that there are three satisfaction that we derive from such psychological ownership. They are:  Control over space  Personalization of space as an assertion of identity  Stimulation which the space gives constantly when we are using that space modifying it and defining it Primary territory serves the purpose of having a space to ourselves and being able to personalize it in our own way and be able to express ourselves. It also helps in providing a private space to enjoy solitude and intimate times. Secondary territory serves the purpose of providing us with the sense of belongingness and safety as others who use the same space are viewed as people whom we can trust and feel safe. Public territory serves the purpose of helping an individual to organize their space and mark a particular area temporarily. It is often the territory that has a potential scope of conflicts and criminal activities since these arenot owned by anyone.

Crowding Crowding and overcrowding are used interchangeably. The term ‘crowd’ refers to too many people at the same time in the same place. To understand the meaning of crowding, it needs to be separated from the concept of physical density. The physical density of a place refers to the number of people within the available place, if the number of people per unit is more, there will be more physical density and vice versa (Tiwari & Mathur, 2014). But crowding is not always experienced in the high-density situation. Physical density is an objective concept, crowding is a subjective feeling of cramped or lack of enough space. One may feel crowding in a situation where others are perfectly comfortable. However, physical density remains the same for all. Crowding is not only related to spatial factors but related to personal and social factors that also play a crucial role. Stokols (1976) states that “density is viewed as a necessary antecedent rather than a sufficient condition for crowding.”The concept of meaning of crowding varies between countries, regions, continents, and also depends on the social, cultural, geographical, and political factors (Clauson-Kaas, 1996). Research in crowding has been conducted at two levels. One is at the household level (measured in person per area of living space) and the second is area level (people per area of land). Gove and Hughes (1983) distinguish between objective and subjective crowding. The former is the quantitative measurement of the number of persons per room in the household. The latter refers to one’s perception of not having enough space in the home. Objective crowding affects negatively the parent-child relationship and other social relationships. The basic assumption in subjective crowding is the lack of privacy which interferes with one’s mental health and behaviour. It is the felt experience of crowding and has a stronger relationship with mental health than objective crowding. Subjective crowding also has a greater effect on the mental health of women (Gove and Hughes, 1983). Rubeck and Pandey (1991) also differentiate between social density and spatial density. Social density refers to the number of people interacting in the household and the spatial density refers to the floor space per person. The nature of interaction has a direct impact on one’s health, both mental and physical.

CROWDING AND PERSONAL SPACE IN INDIA In the Indian context, some research on personal space has been carried out in the University of Calcutta. It was found that people with psychosis larger personal space than people with neurosis and their normal counterparts. The study was conducted on prison inmates.In a crowded situation, the concept of personal space is lost in the Indian culture, and sometimes it is called a cultural habit.At the supermarket people push upright against each other, at the coffeehouse the person behind another person can even smell their hair.In countries like Japan, China and America, people rely more on individualistic values and identities. In India, people tend to have a sense of community. Bhattacharya and Ghosh (2014) conducted a study on personal space and gender differences, their main aim was to study the personal space required by individuals between ages 21-30 years in the context of interaction with known people same-sex and known person opposite sex. They administered the General Information Schedule and Interpersonal Comfortable Scale and found that female group required more personal space than that required by the male group especially in the context of interaction with the known person opposite sex. Personal judgments and levels of awareness may help the individuals to measure his/her personal space in the context of interaction with different persons in different situations. In a study (stane et.al. 1981) conducted to intercorrelate 3 classes of personal space measures: naturalistic measure (persons did not know personal space being measured), two role-played measures (participants approach or were approached by a stimulus person), and Comfortable Interpersonal Distance Scale (CID), a series of 4 paper and pencil measure of personal space. Results showed significant correlations within each class of measurement but negligible correlations between classes. The lack of overlap in assessment techniques calls into question the validity of measures other than those obtained naturalistically.

PLACE ATTACHMENT The human-environment relationship is a broad and multidimensional approach. Place attachment is one of the interesting concepts of this field of study that is investigated in many disciplines, and so has been defined in a variety of ways. Place attachment is defined as an evaluative dimension of place, it describes what does the place means to people, rather than how much does it mean. Briefly, place attachment describes how bonding that occurs between people and their meaningful surroundings. A review of the concepts and theories related to this topic helps to form the theoretical framework. Place attachment is influenced by several factors and usually, research in this area integrates the perceptual, psychological, physical, and socio-cultural dimensions of people and place. Considering dimensions of place attachment has always been beneficial for investigating the factors that influence people-place relationships. However, place attachment cooperates a positive role in individuals’ lives and their care of the place. People who feel an emotional attachment to a place are more active to preserve the place. The relationship between people and places are characterized by cognition and affection respectively (Piccoli, 2010). Just like people form emotional bonds with one another, they do so with a place also. Place attachment is the emotional bond between people and place. It arises as a result of the cultivation of meaning and artifacts associated with created spaces. Our city, our home, or even our dining table are examples of place attachment. It is usually due to strong association with that place, the more time we have spent in a particular place, the more attached we are to it. The attachment may be due to feelings, memories, and interpretations evoked by that place. Place identity and place image in general, both are two different things. Image may well differ from person to person but for an individual who is attached to a place, his/her image to the place will always be positive.