gender perception on built environment

MON-CRES A. TOJE 1

Mapua Institute of Technology

AR 222 Gender Perception On Built Environment

Gender Perception on Built Environment

1.0 Introduction

The built environment is defined as one that has been designed and formed, to a large

degree by man. Utmost of our behaviour occurs in buildings so they have a great potential for

influencing our behaviour. Many theorists argue that what we see when we investigate the built

environment is a complex arrangement of influencing systems and sub-systems. There is added

complication because the human element in differing built environments provides a unique

behaviour-environment relationship which makes generalisation challenging. For instance the

behaviour which occurs in a house may vary extensively from the type of behaviour which is

likely to occur in say an airport terminal building.

Each individual is unique and no two people are the same, they differ from each other in

some way or the other. Such a similarity or difference between persons reveals individual

differences. This explains why individuals may vary in their perception to the built environment.

Two of the most evident differences among individuals are gender and perception. Gender refers

to the behaviour and characteristics defining masculinity or femininity, which is understood to be

psychologically, socially, and culturally constructed (http://www.dummies.com/how-

to/content/human-differences-culture-gender-and-sexuality.html). According to Adam Cash

(Psychology For Dummies, 2nd Edition) gender displays itself psychologically and

behaviourally in what psychologists call gender roles. Gender role is defined as a collection of

social norms and expectations for a person who identifies or is identified as either masculine or

feminine, man or woman. The presence of gender roles in societies gives rise to stereotypes and

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biases, prejudices, and judgments, of course. However, the world is still much "gendered," and

people are still pretty much viewed through the lens of gender role and gender role categories.

One of the issues the world is facing today is gender differences. The question of whether

males are naturally better than females at some skills, and vice versa keeps on bagging the

humanity. Are men and women really so divergent that they may as well come from different

planets? Relative to this, scientific researches were done to answer the question of who is who

but often concludes that male and female excel in different areas.

In the same way, consistent differences between men and women have also been found in

research, such as higher rates of aggression and violence in men, higher rates of substance abuse

in men, and higher rates of depression in women. Women's and men's leadership styles also vary

as well, with women adopting a more democratic and participatory approach and men adopting a

more autocratic and directive approach.

There was a time that scientists claimed that women had inferior brains. However,

modern neuroscience demonstrates no difference in general intelligence between men and

women. Some studies suggest that men perform better at spatial and math abilities while women

have stronger verbal abilities, but these findings are so small that they are irrelevant in the real

world (http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/human-differences-culture-gender-and-

sexuality.html). Gender is said to be one of the factors that influence perception

(https://www2.bc.edu/~radinr/Lecture_Notes/). Perception deals with the human senses that

generate signals from the environment through sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Vision and

audition are the best understood. Perception is the process by which we interpret the world

around us, forming a mental representation of the environment. This representation is not

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isomorphic to the world, but it's subject to many correspondence differences and errors. The

brain makes assumptions about the world to overcome the inherent ambiguity in all sensory data,

and in response to the task at hand (http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~silvia/wien/vuinfovis/articles).

In the Foundations of Perception (Mather, 2006) it was said that female advantages for

tone sensitivity, taste sensitivity, odour recognition, and touch recognition although males

consistently outperform females on tasks of spatial vision. There is a significant variability and

overlap in the performance of the two sexes.

(http://www.psypress.co.uk/mather/resources/chapter.asp?chapter=13).

2.0 Related Studies

In the environmental psychology of design (Kopec, 2006) it was stated that men and

women perceive their environments differently and this was due to the slow evolution of human

psych than human technology. Consequently, men and women remain to behave and regard the

environment according to basic instincts.

People always interact with color both on natural and built environments. Artists and

interior designers have long understood how color can dramatically affect moods, feelings, and

emotions. It is a powerful communication tool and can be used to signal action, influence mood,

and cause physiological reactions. Certain colors have been associated with increased blood

pressure, increased metabolism, and eyestrain

(http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception). In the study of Natalia Khouw on

Gender Differences in Color about 80% of the information which we assimilate through the

sense, is visual. According to her color affects how we feel more than just the objective data we

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can get. As such, the presence of color becomes more important in interior environment, since

most people spend more time inside than outside. In the study the author cited the study of

Rikard Kuller (1976) who conducted a study on the effects of color in two opposite

environments. Six men and six women were asked to stay in two rooms; one room was colorful

and complex; while the other was gray and sterile. Electroencephalogram (EEG) and pulse rates

were recorded throughout the period, as well as the individuals' subjective emotional feelings.

The results showed heart rates were faster in the gray room than in the colorful room. Moreover,

men were found to have stress reactions more than women. Men also became more bored than

did the women in the gray room. Kuller also postulated that men could not achieve the same

degree of mental relaxation as women. Similarly, another study examined the appropriateness

of colors used on the walls of a simulated domestic interior furnished in one of three styles;

Georgian, Art Nouveau and Modern. Whitfield (1984) reported that internal consistency among

women is higher than for men. When the study was broadened to include marital status, married

women achieve significantly more internal consistency in each condition of the three styles than

did the men. On the other hand, in the Young children‘s color preferences in the interior

environment (Read and Upington, 2009) finding reveal that children prefer the color red in the

interior environment and the color purple was preferred by girls.

Satisfaction with the thermal environment is also important for its own sake and because

it influences productivity and health. Office workers for example who are satisfied with their

thermal environment are more productive. Thermal discomfort has also been known to lead to

sick building syndrome symptoms. There are large variations from person to person in terms of

physiological and psychological satisfaction; it is hard to find an optimal temperature for

everyone in a given space. Laboratory and field data have been collected to define conditions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome

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that will be found comfortable for a specified percentage of occupants

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_comfort. The following studies shows how male and

female differ on thermal satisfaction inside buildings

The study of Thermal Comfort and Gender (Karjalainen, 2011) examines scientific

literature on the effect of gender on indoor thermal comfort. Gender differences have been

generally considered to be small and insignificant but this review shows that a growing number

of studies have found significant differences in thermal comfort between the genders. Clearly

more than half of the laboratory and field studies have found that females express more

dissatisfaction than males in the same thermal environments. Very few studies have found males

to be more dissatisfied than females. A meta-analysis shows that females are more likely than

males to express thermal dissatisfaction. However, most studies found no significant difference

in neutral temperatures between the genders. Females are more sensitive than males to a

deviation from an optimal temperature and express more dissatisfaction, especially in cooler

conditions (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com)

Relative to this, a study on the Influence Of Local Effects On Thermal Sensation Under

Non-Uniform Environmental Conditions — Gender Differences In Thermo physiology, Thermal

Comfort And Productivity During Convective And Radiant Cooling (Schellen, et al, 2012) was

also conducted applying high temperature cooling concepts, i.e. high temperature cooling HVAC

systems, in the built environment allows the reduction in the use of (high quality) energy. The

objective of this study was to investigate gender differences in thermo physiology, thermal

comfort and productivity in response to thermal non-uniform environmental conditions. During

the experiments physiological responses, thermal comfort and productivity were measured. The

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938412002715

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results show that under both experimental conditions the actual mean thermal sensation votes

significantly differ from the PMV-index; the subjects are feeling colder than predicted.

Furthermore, the females are more uncomfortable and dissatisfied compared to the males. For

females, the local sensations and skin temperatures of the extremities have a significant influence

on whole body thermal sensation and are therefore important to consider under non-uniform

environmental conditions (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article). Likewise, in the study

of Maykel Verkuyten and Jochem Thijs (2002), School Satisfaction of Elementary School

Children: The Role of Performance, Peer Relations, Ethnicity and Gender examine school

satisfaction among 1,090 Dutch and ethnic minority children aged between ten and twelve in

relation to their school context. Data were gathered in 51classes from 26 schools. Individual and

classroom variables were examined simultaneously, using multilevel analysis. Controlling

statistically for general life satisfaction and teacher likeability, the results show that the effects of

educational performance and peer victimization on school satisfaction were mediated by

perceived scholastic competence and social self-esteem, respectively. In addition, ethnic

minority groups were more satisfied with school than the Dutch pupils, and girls were more

satisfied than boys. Multilevel analysis showed that school satisfaction was dependent on the

classroom context. The academic and social climate in the class had positive effects on the level

of satisfaction with school (http://link.springer.com/article).

Further, Gender Differences In Office Occupant Perception Of Indoor Environmental

Quality (IEQ) (Kim ,et al, 2013 ) investigates the gender differences in the occupants'

perception on various aspects of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) by two lines of inquiry;

Firstly, a comprehensive literature survey spanning the research areas of indoor air quality

(IAQ), sick building syndrome (SBS), thermal comfort, lighting, and acoustics was conducted.


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Secondly, statistical analyses were performed on a large, predominantly North American Post-

Occupancy Evaluation (POE) database. Statistical analyses indicated that female occupants'

satisfaction levels were consistently lower than male occupants for all fifteen IEQ factors

(including thermal comfort, air quality, lighting, acoustics, office layout & furnishings, and

cleanliness & maintenance) addressed in POE questionnaire, and the differences were

statistically significant. Logistic regression analysis identified a significant association between

female gender and dissatisfaction with individual IEQ factors. Those gender differences

quantified by odds ratios (OR) were most pronounced for dissatisfaction with thermal

environment, IAQ, and workspace cleanliness. The analyses produced consistent results, even

after potential confounding factors such as age and work characteristics were controlled. As a

result women‘s' IEQ satisfaction was consistently lower than men, and are significantly more

likely to express dissatisfaction with IEQ factors. However overall workspace satisfaction

showed no difference between the two sexes (www.sciencedirect.com/science/article).

Correspondingly Gender Differences in Thermal Comfort and Use of Thermostats in

Everyday Thermal Environments ( Karjalainen, 2006), it was found that males are more satisfied

with room temperatures than females. Statistical analysis showed statistically significant

differences between the genders. The difference between males and females is more remarkable

in the office environment than the home environment. On an average, males are more satisfied

with room temperatures in offices both in winter and summer season. At home, however,

females give better values for summer season temperatures than males, while males are also

more satisfied with winter season temperatures at home. Females feel uncomfortably cold and

uncomfortably hot more often than males. During the winter season, 18% of females feel

uncomfortably cold weekly or more often (weekly, daily, or continuously) at home. Coldness is


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felt more often in offices: 40% of females reported that they feel uncomfortably cold weekly or

more often. The same values for males are significantly lower: 8% of males feel uncomfortably

cold at home and 16% weekly or more often in offices. During the summer season, females feel

hot and cold more often than males. For example, in offices, 48% of females and 37% of males

feel hot weekly or more often. During the summer season, coldness is felt in offices weekly or

more often by 10% of females and by 3% of males. The differences between the genders are

statistically significant in feeling cold in winter and summer season, and feeling hot during

summer season, but not in feeling hot during winter season.

(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii).

The following studies are other revelations on how male and female differ in their

perception of built environments

In the study of Perceived Environment Attributes, Residential Location, and Walking for

Particular Purposes ( Humpel, et al, 2004) it was revealed that men with the most positive

perceptions of neighbourhood ―aesthetics‖ were significantly more likely to be in the highest

category of neighbourhood walking. Men who professed the weather as not inhibiting their

walking were much more likely to be high exercise walkers. Women who perceived the weather

as not inhibiting their walking were significantly more likely to be high neighbourhood walkers

and those with moderate perceptions of ―accessibility‖ were much more likely to do more

walking for pleasure (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article). A related study which is the

Associations of Perceived Environment with Walking Vary by Gender and Walking Purpose

(Kerr, et. Al., 2008) was undertaken where 33% of men and 31% of women reported walking for

transport for 150 minutes or more each week. Significantly more women than men reported


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walking 150 or more minutes for leisure each week. Safety from crime was negatively related to

transportation and leisure walking in men but not women. Unexpectedly, when safety from crime

was higher, walking was lower. Pedestrian safety was positively correlated with transportation

walking in men only. Aesthetics were positively related to transportation and leisure walking in

men but only leisure walking in women. Street connectivity, land use access and mix were

positively correlated with transportation walking for both men and women, but were related to

leisure walking in men only. Residential density was positively associated with walking for

transportation and leisure in both men and women. Access to physical activity facilities was

positively related to walking for leisure only, in both men and women. Bike/pedestrian facilities

were not associated with walking for either purpose in men or women. There was a significant

gender interaction for distance to work only. Women who lived within 20 minutes‘ walk of work

accumulated more minutes (255 minutes/week) walking for transport than women who lived

more than 20 minutes away (154 minutes/week) or men who lived either near or far from their

work (179 and 160 minutes/week).

Also, Gender Differences in the Journey to Work (Blumen, 2015) attempts to explore the

common features that have emerged from the last two decades of research in various places

within a metropolitan context. Three main sets of factors that may cause women to commute

shorter distances are recognized: residence, employment, and transportation—each containing

both social and spatial aspects. The analysis is centred on the spatial aspect. Most research on

employed women seems to be characterized by distinguishing between the central city and the

suburbs and thus the conclusions focus mostly upon this. An international comparison of

different places shows that gender differences in commuting almost always are greater in the

suburbs, from the point of view of both residential and employment dispersions. Finally, the

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investigation of gender differences in commuting and in the location of both residence and

employment could lead to consideration of new conceptual frameworks for possible interaction

between lands used for both purposes within urban space.

In addition to this, Gender Differences in Recreational Use, Environmental Attitudes, and

Perceptions of Future Land Use at the Savannah River Site (Burger, et al, 1998) wherein

Perceptions are critical to making decisions about our environment, particularly contaminated

sites. Gender differences in recreational use, attitudes toward environmental problems, and

perceptions of land use for the Savannah River Site (Department of Energy) were examined in

people living near the site. Bird-watching, photography, and fishing were the most common

activities. Men engaged in more hunting, fishing, hiking, and camping, and women

photographed more than men. There were significant gender differences in attitudes toward

future land use, with women showing lower scores than men for hiking, camping, fishing,

hunting, nuclear production, factories, building houses, and storage of nuclear waste.

Maintaining the Savannah River Site as a National Environmental Research Park was the highest

priority for both genders, whereas storing nuclear wastes and building homes ranked lowest for

both.

In the Analysis of Gender Differences In The Perception Of Properties: An Application

For Differential Semantics (Llinares, 2009) cited that differences have also been observed

between men and women‘s environmental cognition (Evans, 1980; Moore, 1979), although no

in-depth analysis of the evaluation structure for both genders has been found in the literature.

Thus, with regard to the perception of architectural styles, Nasar (1989) found that females in the

city of Columbus judged a ―farm‖ style to be more desirable than males did, and that females in

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the cities of Columbus and Los Angeles judged ―farm‖ style as friendlier than males did. Stamps

and Nasar (1997) obtained a 0.94 correlation between both groups when evaluating ―high‖ and

―popular‖ styles. Imamoglu (2000) studied the role of complexity in preference with 16 house

facade drawings. The study reports that females perceived the houses as more complex than

males. In a more recent study, Akalin et al. (2009) analysed the perception of 100 undergraduate

students in Architecture and Engineering Departments. The individuals had to assess 15

photographs of house facades considering the roles of complexity, preference and

impressiveness. The results showed significant differences in perceptions between gender

groups. Gender differences have been studied, such as, distance perception and the effects of the

hidden buildings (Nasar et al, 1985).

Independent Mobility, Perceptions of the Built Environment and Children's Participation

in Play, Active Travel and Structured Exercise and Sport: The PEACH Project (Page et al, 2010)

it revealed that Independent mobility (IM) and perceptions of the built environment may relate

differentially to children's participation in various physical activity contexts. This cross-sectional

study investigated whether independent mobility and perceptions of the built environment in

boys and girls were related to physical activity in three different contexts (outdoor play,

structured exercise/sport, active commuting). The result discovered that for boys, local

independent mobility (Local-IM) was related to an increased likelihood of everyday participation

in play, structured exercise/sport and active commuting but was only related to active commuting

for girls. Boys and girls were more likely to report playing out every day if they had higher

scores for Social Norm; for girls only, more positive perceptions of traffic safety. Easy access to

a range of destinations was the dominant predictor for taking part in structured exercise/sport

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every day. Shorter distance from home to school and, for boys only, greater perceived

accessibility were significantly related to active commuting to school.

On the Perceptions of Environmental Supports on the Physical Activity Behaviours of

University Men and Women: A Preliminary Investigation (Reed and Ainsworth, 2010) examine

perception differences between genders of university sidewalks and safety from crime on the

physical activity (PA) behaviours of undergraduate students. Five hundred and sixty

undergraduate students participated in this study. The authors derived questions from the South

Carolina Environmental Supports for Physical Activity Questionnaire (SCESPAQ) and National

College Health Risk Behaviour Survey (NCHRS) PA module. The authors found a significant

mean difference between genders for the Moderate Intensity Item (eg, walking and biking) and

the Flexibility Item respectively. Of participants surveyed, 30% of women perceived this campus

to be extremely safe compared with 49% of men. Gender and the perceptions of sidewalk

presence were significantly related to respondents' walking or bicycling patterns.

Other studies on Gender, Perceptions of Safety and Strategic Responses among Ohio

University Students (Starkweather, 2007) Research on perceptions of safety in public spaces

seek a balance between paying careful attention to the effects of gender, while challenging

simplistic notions of a dichotomy of fearful women and fearless men. In a study of perceptions

of safety among undergraduate students at the Ohio State University, this principle was

addressed by decentring fear as the object of study and focusing instead on the various strategies

that women and men use to manage their perceptions of safety—including avoidance of certain

situations (for example, being in specific places, or going outside after dark), precautionary

measures, and assertions of confidence. Questionnaire responses and follow-up interviews

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indicated that most students usually felt safe on campus; however, women were more likely than

men to have felt unsafe. Students used a wide range of strategies to make themselves feel safer,

from staying home after dark to formulating plans for self-defense to telling themselves they had

nothing to fear. While a focus on strategic responses illuminated areas of overlap in men's and

women's experiences, gender differences were also striking. Men are unlikely to rely on

avoidance strategies, while some women view self-imposed restrictions on activity as normal

and necessary. Furthermore, many men are unwilling or unable to relate to questions about fear

and safety, explicitly or implicitly rein scribing fear as a ‗women's issue‘

(http://www.tandfonline.com).

Furthermore, Individual- and Gender-Related Differences in Indoor Way Finding

(Lawton, 1996) used a variety of behavioural and self-report measures to examine gender

differences in way finding behaviour following incidental leading in an unfamiliar indoor

environment. College students were led along a circuitous route and then asked to find their way

back to the start. Choice of route back, comments made during the task, directional accuracy, and

self-report after the task indicated three relatively efficient patterns of way finding and a

distinctly inefficient pattern, characterized by frequent back-trailing, poor directional accuracy,

and uncertainty about the task. Gender differences showed a discrepancy between measures of

way finding efficiency and directional accuracy. Although there was no gender difference in

choice of route back, men were significantly more accurate than women in locating the direction

of the destination. Also, women reported significantly more uncertainty about carrying out the

task (http://eab.sagepub.com/content/28/2/204.short).

(Lawton

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Perceived Characteristics Of The Neighborhood And Its Association With Physical

Activity Behavior And Self-Rated Health (Stronegger 2010) identify perceptions of the

residential environment and their association with physical activity for specific purposes and

with self-rated health in an urban contextand found out that a high level of satisfaction with the

individual‘s local infrastructure may support the residents to engage in higher levels of physical

activity for transportation, whereas the preferred mode of transportation may be gender-specific:

men tend to use the bicycle while women walk. Results suggest that local infrastructure facilities

should be designed so as to ensure accessibility by both walking and cycling.

Investigation on the Perceptions of The Neighbourhood Environment And Self Rated

Health: A Multilevel Analysis of the Caerphilly Health and Social Needs Study (Poortinga et al

2007) examined whether (1) the neighbourhood aspects of access to amenities, neighbourhood

quality, neighbourhood disorder, and neighbourhood social cohesion are associated with people's

self-rated health, (2) these health effects reflect differences in socio-demographic composition

and/or neighbourhood deprivation, and (3) the associations with the different aspects of the

neighbourhood environment vary between men and women. The result revealed that the

neighbourhood attributes of poor access to amenities, poor neighbourhood quality,

neighbourhood disorder, lack of social cohesion, and neighbourhood deprivation were associated

with the reporting of poor health. These effects were attenuated when controlling for individual

and collective socio-economic status. Lack of social cohesion significantly increased the odds of

women reporting poor health, but did not increase the odds of men reporting poor health. In

contrast, unemployment significantly affected men's health, but not women's

(healthhttp://www.biomedcentral.com).

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Perceived Environmental Predictors Of Physical Activity Over 6 Months In Adults:

Activity Counseling Trial (James Et Al 2007) extended previous cross-sectional findings by

using a prospective design to determine whether physical and social environmental

characteristics predict physical activity over 6 months. Inactive adults were recruited to the

Activity Counseling Trial, a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial of physical activity

intervention in primary care. Participants were 387 women and 474 men aged 35-75 years in 3

regions; 1/3 was minorities; 56% had some college education. Baseline perceived environmental

variables were used to predict physical activity at 6 months, adjusting for experimental condition

and other potential moderators. As a result women reporting no unattended dogs and low crime

in their neighborhoods and men reporting frequently seeing people being active in their

neighborhoods did 50-75 more minutes of physical activity per week than did those with

different environmental characteristics.

Gender and Life Course in the Narratives of Melbourne's High-rise Housing Developers

(Fincher, 2004) Socially constructed ideas about the life course, sometimes encompassing gender

relations, have long informed the views of those within the housing development industry about

who should be housed where in the city, living what sorts of lives. Drawing on the findings of a

recent study of developers‘ narratives about the construction of expensive, high-rise housing in

central Melbourne, a relatively new form of dwelling even in this part of the metropolitan area,

several themes are found to characterise the taken-for-granted ways in which these city-builders

view the gendered life courses of housing consumers. Developers‘ narratives oppose the

suburban ‗home‘ to the high-rise ‗lifestyle‘, consider central city high-rise residences as

appropriate only for people without families, and see women, separately from the couples they

make up with men, only as potential victims requiring the security that high-rise apartment living

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is said to provide. These narratives reiterate the characteristics of an essentialised ‗empty nester‘,

or ‗young professional‘ housing consumer, who is envisaged to occupy the new housing and is

defined according to life course stage and gender. The developers‘ partial and narrow accounts

of the likely consumers of this high-rise housing is one factor amongst many that explains the

building of precincts of high-rise housing that have limited facilities for children and for pursuits

other than consumption of the individual ‗lifestyle‘.

Perceived Neighborhood Environments and Physical Activity in an Elderly Sample

(Mota 2007) shows that increasing evidence indicates the importance of environmental variables

in explaining physical activity. This study evaluated sex differences in perception of home and

neighborhood environmental support and assessed which neighborhood environmental variables

were associated with reported physical activity of elderly people. A sample of 126 women and

55 men were healthy, community-dwelling individuals. A questionnaire about environmental

variables was administered. Physical activity was assessed on the Baecke Questionnaire. Logistic

regression analysis showed that Neighborhood Safety was related to total physical activity,

activity in leisure time, and sport activities. Men were also likely to be more active in leisure

time than women. Neighborhood Personal Safety was associated with physical activity of these

elderly people, showing a potential influence of the environmental domain in physical activity

(http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.104.2.438-444).

Fear Perceptions in Public Parks (Jorgensen 2012) This research examined the effect of

concealment (environmental cues), presence or absence of people recreating (social cues), and

gender on individuals‘ fear of crime in a community park setting. Using a 7-point single-item

indicator, 732 participants from two samples (540 park visitors and 192 college students) rated

their estimates of fear of crime to 24 photographic representations of a community park. All

http://eab.sagepub.com/search?author1=Lisa+J.+Jorgensen&sortspec=date&submit=Submit

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three, two-factor interaction effects were significant in the park visitor sample, but in the student

sample, only the Presence of People Recreating × Gender effect was significant. These results

suggest that social and environmental cues may jointly affect fear experiences and that the

presence of other people recreating in a park environment and the gender of an individual may

influence fear of crime when recreating alone in a park setting. Implications include design and

management techniques that promote safe park environments.

In the study A Geography of Men‘s Fear (Brownlow 2005) it is stated that men are at

significantly greater risk than women to violent crime victimization in the US, especially in the

public sphere. Despite this, their fears and vulnerabilities have received considerably less

attention in recent social discourse than have women. Men‘s risk in, and fear of, public space is

overshadowed by their apparent fearlessness in public space. This paper begins to address this

apparent paradox using the conceptual lenses of masculinity and control. The author explores

fear and fearlessness among men as objects and subjects of masculinity. Stated fearlessness

among men is counterbalanced by a chronic fear of violent crime victimization. Conditioned

fearlessness combines with actual risk and chronic fear to shape men‘s experiences in the public

sphere. A study was conducted on the dynamics of men‘s fear using data gathered from a group

of young men and women in Philadelphia. Gendered differences in fear and how environments

are perceived and judged as to their relative safety are demonstrated and explored. Compared to

women‘s fears and perceived geographical vulnerabilities, the men of this study demonstrate a

persistent and chronic wariness of their environmental context that precedes any judgment of

perceived safety. Violence and fear among both men and women in this study is further

explained as a function of racism and economic marginalization

(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article).


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In the Neighborhood Perceptions and Active Commuting to School Among Adolescent

Boys and Girls (Nelson and Woods 2010) active commuting (AC) to school can increase daily

minutes of physical activity yet research is lacking on its determinants. This study examined

perceptions of the physical environment as a correlate of AC among adolescents. Positive

correlates of AC included well-lit streets, land-use-mix diversity, access to shops/public

transport, the presence of public parks/bike lanes, and accessible well-maintained paths.

Connectivity was unrelated to mode choice. In multivariate analyses, land-use-mix diversity, and

the perceived presence of public parks remained significant among males, whereas excess traffic

speed, shops within walking distance, and paths separate from the road remained significant

among females (http://www.ayfcoaching.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/Documents).

Interactive way finding: Use of cues by men and women (Devlin and Bernstein, 1995)

To test the effectiveness of seven different kinds of wayfinding information used by men and

women, 277 first-time visitors to a college campus, 126 men and 151 women, were randomly

assigned to one of seven different types of cue information in viewing a computer simulation of a

campus tour. Participants then took a computer ‗test‘ using the same touch-screen computer

monitor. Results indicated that men made significantly fewer errors than women on the way

finding test and were significantly more confident that they could find their way than were

women. Men also generally preferred the use of visual-spatial cues more than did women.

Overall, participants who were exposed to textual directions (with or without reference to

landmarks) or a plain map made significantly more errors than those who had photos

supplementing the text or landmarks supplementing the map. Participants exposed to the two

map conditions were significantly more confident that they could find their way in the simulation

test than those in the five other conditions.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0272494495900128


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A Study in Re-Establishing The Corporate Identity Of A Post Office Institution With

Gender-Related Differences In Perception Of Space (Baskaya Et Al 2006) in which the

architectural identity stressed in this work is the use of whole components of space as a

communication tool. Although the post office is an institution dealing with communication, the

image of the post office for users is not architectural (three dimensional) at all, only graphic (two

dimensional). To test the assumption that an architectural image might change depending on the

experience with a space, a post office example especially designed for that purpose was studied.

While analyzing the functional quality of the selected example s Public Hall, the perception of

the space was tested, both in infrequent and frequent use. This work discusses the two types of

images that a post office institution should have and put forward: initial image (sensation) and

actual image (perception), which can differ depending on the subjects' spatial experience. An

initial image is the result of infrequent use, andan actual image of frequent use. In the infrequent

case, it is assumed that sensations are concerned with the physical characteristics of the space. In

the frequent case, it is assumed that perceptions are concerned with the functional qualities of a

space. Even though respondents will be indecisive about the spatial quality of space (depending

on the frequency of use and multiple experiences of a space), users can learn about an

organization better through more than just one experience, forming a general image about it. The

effect of gender on the performance appraisal task was also examined. Compared to females,

who were more frequent users, male users mostly stressed the physical characteristics of the

space rather than its functional qualities (http://www.jstor.org/stable/43030758).

MON-CRES A. TOJE 20



3.0 Conclusion

Gender perceptions on built environment are differing in a way or the other. With the

studies presented it only strengthens that there are really differences on how male and female

perceived their environment. Studies like these helps identify how and what aspect gender differ

on their perception. As such, these support the designers improve their work in order to meet the

needs both for male and female without sacrificing each other‘s needs. It must be understood that

we are now in the modern world; the needs of a stereotyped women are far from her needs today

and are sometimes even given much consideration than men. As a designer we must be aware

that we have different factors to consider, in this case the gender, and it must be carefully

scrutinized and studied before a design is carried out. Take note that we design for people and

that we are also responsible in shaping our end-users behaviour- in short- it‘s either we shape a

better world to live in or we destroy the future of the generation.

4.0 References

WEBSITES

http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at http://www.positive-thinking-principles.com/definition-of-perception.html https://www2.bc.edu/~radinr/Lecture.../Perception.pp http://www.psypress.co.uk/mather/resources http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/human-differences-culture-gender-and-sexuality.html http://www.colormatters.com/color-symbolism/gender-differences

MON-CRES A. TOJE 21



BOOKS AND JOURNALS

Baskaya Et Al. Study in Re-Establishing The Corporate Identity Of A Post Office Institution

With Gender-Related Differences In Perception Of Space. 2006

Brady, Kristine L.; Eisler, Richard M. Sex and gender in the college classroom: A quantitative

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91(1), Mar 1999, 127-145

Brownlow .A Geography of Men‘s Fear. 2005

Kopec, D. (2012). Environmental Psychology for Design. 3.

Carmen Llinares.Analysis Of Gender Differences In The Perception Of Properties: An

Application For Differential Semantics. May 2009

Devlin and Bernstein. Interactive way finding: Use of cues by men and women.1995

Fincher. Gender and Life Course in the Narratives of Melbourne's High-rise Housing

Developers. 2004

James Et Al. Perceived Environmental Predictors Of Physical Activity Over 6 Months In Adults:

Activity Counseling Trial. 2007

Jacqueline Kerr, Ph.D., James Sallis, Ph.D., Brian Saelens, Ph.D., Lawrence Frank, Ph.D., Terry

Conway, Ph.D., & Kelli Cain, M.A. Associations of Perceived Environment with Walking Vary

by Gender and Walking Purpose. April 2008

Joanna Burger,Jessica Sanchez, J.Whitfield Gibbons,Michael Gochfeld. Gender Differences in

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http://eab.sagepub.com/search?author1=Joanna+Burger&sortspec=date&submit=Submit

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http://eab.sagepub.com/search?author1=J.Whitfield+Gibbons&sortspec=date&submit=Submit

http://eab.sagepub.com/search?author1=Michael+Gochfeld&sortspec=date&submit=Submit

http://eab.sagepub.com/search?author1=Lisa+J.+Jorgensen&sortspec=date&submit=Submit


MON-CRES A. TOJE 22



Mota. Perceived Neighborhood Environments And Physical Activity In An Elderly Sample.

2007

Nancy Humpel, PhD, Neville Owen, PhD, Don Iverson, PhD, Eva Leslie, PhD, Adrian Bauman,

Nelson and Woods.Neighborhood Perceptions and Active Commuting to School Among

Adolescent Boys and Girls. 2010

Orna Blumen. Gender Differences In The Journey To Work.

PhD. Perceived Environment Attributes, Residential Location, And Walking For Particular

Purposes.Volume 26, Issue 2

Page et al. Independent Mobility, Perceptions of the Built Environment and Children's

Participation in Play, Active Travel and Structured Exercise and Sport: The PEACH Project. ,

2010

Reed and Ainsworth. On the Perceptions of Environmental Supports on the Physical Activity

Behaviours of University Men and Women: A Preliminary Investigation . 2010

Schellen, et al. Influence Of Local Effects On Thermal Sensation Under Non-Uniform

Environmental Conditions — Gender Differences In Thermo physiology, Thermal Comfort And

Productivity During Convective And Radiant Cooling.2012






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