1. Environmental Assessment: A Case Study of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Author
-
American Geographical Society, New York, NY. and Lowenthal, David
- Abstract
A project undertaken to advance the systematic analysis of public responses, attitudes, opinions, preferences, and values relating to the environment is discussed in this report, the third in a series of eight. The reports fall into two general categories: five describe and compare responses to representative milieus in New York, Boston, Cambridge (Massachusetts) and Columbus (Ohio), together with a comparative analysis of the four cities; the remaining analyze the relationships among responses to these milieus and interpret the resulting configurations of environmental traits. Observers, varying systematically in age, sex, occupation, education, and residential background, individually traversed a set of half-mile walks, selected to provide a representative array of local environments. Analysis of observer responses yielded a composite image of Cambridge as green, run down and messy, varied and different, busy and crowded, academic-residential, sometimes depressing and dull, and sometimes calm. The judgmental and perceptual differences among Cambridge observers--Boy Scouts, secretaries, housewives, and senior citizens--were also analyzed and explanations suggested for these differences in terms of their environmental and sociological backgrounds. Related documents are SE 015 658 - SE 015 665. (BL)
- Published
- 1972