Houses, and other spaces and environments in which people spend their time, have a crucial impact on quality of life. We are increasingly living in multi-cultural cities and communities, and this too significantly affects how we feel about spaces in which we live. This volume brings together psychologists, architects, designers and planners to discuss issues of housing, space, sustainability and multi-culturalism. In doing so, the book provides an insightful critical analysis of space, place and the quality of life. It also addresses the implications of intercultural tension on quality of life and on the way in which people use and interact in a multi-cultural space. With case studies from Spain, Turkey, Brazil, the UK, the USA and Israel, it discusses issues such as low-cost housing, security, environmental conservation and sustainability, alternative building techniques, cultural diversity and its impact on housing and urban design.

"Houses, and other spaces and environments in which people spend their time, have a crucial impact on quality of life. We are increasingly living in multi-cultural cities and communities, and this too significantly affects how we feel about spaces in which we live. This volume brings together psychologists, architects, designers and planners to discuss issues of housing, space, sustainability and multi-culturalism. In doing so, the book provides an insightful critical analysis of space, place and the quality of life. It also addresses the implications of intercultural tension on quality of life and on the way in which people use and interact in a multi-cultural space. With case studies from Spain, Turkey, Brazil, the UK, the USA and Israel, it discusses issues such as low-cost housing, security, environmental conservation and sustainability, alternative building techniques, cultural diversity and its impact on housing and urban design."--Provided by publisher.

This volume brings together psychologists, architects, designers and planners to discuss issues of housing, space, sustainability and multi-culturalism. In doing so, the book provides an insightful critical analysis of space, place and the quality of life. It also addresses the implications of intercultural tension on quality of life.

The appearance of Oscar Newman's Defensible SpaceÓ in 1972 signaled the establishment of a new criminological subdiscipline that has come to be called by many Crime Prevention Through Environmental DesignÓ or CPTED. Over the years, Mr. Newman's ideas have proven to have significant merit in helping the Nation's citizens reclaim their urban neighborhoods. This casebook will assist public & private organizations with the implementation of Defensible Space theory. This monograph draws directly from Mr. Newman's experience as consulting architect. Illustrations.

The second edition will be an update and further elaboration of the literature related to subjective well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction. It will have a new substantial section that focuses on reviewing much of the literature of subjective well-being within specific life domains (social life, material life, leisure life, work life, community life, spiritual life, family life, health life, sex life, travel life, etc.) In the 1st edition the research in these various life domains was discussed only briefly. The second edition will maintain the same organizational structure of the first edition; that is, Part 1 will focus on introduction (definitions and distinctions; examples of measures of subjective well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction; and motives underlying subjective well-being). Part 2 will focus on psychological strategies that are allow people to optimize subjective well-being by engaging in psychological processes related to the relationship between and among life domains (e.g., social life, family life, love life, spiritual life, community life, financial life, etc.) This part will contain four chapters related to these various “inter-domain” processes: bottom-up spillover, top-down spillover, horizontal spillover, and compensation. Part 3 of the book will focus on “intra-domain” psychological strategies designed to optimize subjective well-being. These include re-evaluation based on personal history, re-evaluation based on self-concept, re-evaluation based on social comparison, goal selection, goal implementation and attainment, and re-appraisal. Part 4 of the book will focus on balance processes—how people attempt to create balance in their lives using psychological processes within specific life domains (intra-domain strategies) and processes that relate one domain to another (inter-domain strategies).

The authors of this volume provide a window into what influences the quality of life, why people live longer, and why we are relatively better off compared to decades ago. While the potential ways of measuring life quality are abundant, understanding what causes improvement requires careful study and consideration. This volume provides useful insight into these challenges and helps to highlight a clear and important separation between wellbeing and standard of living, both relevant to assessing the quality of life. Standard of living refers to the material welfare of a group. Wellbeing, on the other hand, encapsulates harder-to-measure subjective preferences. Together they help us to understand the quality of life of certain groups at specific times, and in specific communities.