Environmental Psychology Society (EPS)
The Environmental Psychology Society (EPS) is a collaborative learning community dedicated to understanding the relationship between people and their environments.
Through lectures, research dissemination, conferences, and collective reading practices, EPS cultivates reflective practitioners across architecture, landscape, planning, psychology, and allied fields. Its purpose is to ensure that design is not only functional or beautiful, but meaningful, humane, and grounded in lived experience.
Play
Where do young children in middle-class high-rise housing estates play?
A critical analysis of spatial planning and design parameters across seven heterogeneous housing estates in Pune, India
This journal article studies seven high-rise housing estates in Pune, India to understand the gap between designed play areas and the spaces children truly use. Through interviews with designers and caregivers alongside field observations, it reveals how planning decisions, materials, and everyday routines shape play opportunities. The paper concludes with eleven practical guidelines for creating more responsive and inclusive play environments in housing communities.
Array of Play Diversity: Design and Evaluation Tool for Creating Young Children's Play Spaces
This journal article presents the Array of Play Diversity (APD), a visual framework developed from the assessment of play environments across 63 high-rise housing developments in Pune, India. Mapping 40 physical elements across eight environmental play qualities, the APD functions as both a design guide and an evaluation tool to help practitioners create richer and more diverse play spaces for young children.
Post-Occupancy Evaluations
Everyday Life at a Public-access Urban Plaza
How do everyday users shape the success of urban public spaces?
This study evaluates the real-world performance of a public-access urban plaza in India, examining how people use, adapt, and experience the space beyond its original design intent. Grounded in the theory of affordances and six months of on-site observation, the research documents activities ranging from seating and socialising to play, work, dining, and transit.
The findings position post-occupancy evaluation as a vital feedback tool for designers and developers. The project offers practical insights for creating more walkable, participatory, and socially responsive urban environments that strengthen long-term city habitability.
Participation
A Participatory Approach to Design Education with Children
Methods and tools for engaging young people in spatial design
This book chapter presents participatory design approaches used with children aged 5 to 18 across two distinct contexts — a post-emergency transitional learning space in Haiti and a design-education workshop with primary school students. Through activities such as walkthroughs, LEGO modelling, loose-parts exploration, and informative walks, the chapter illustrates how children’s inputs can meaningfully shape both learning environments and early design understanding.
Bringing together adaptable methods and facilitation tools, the chapter offers practical guidance for educators, designers, and researchers working with young participants, and concludes with key reflections for future participatory design and education practices.
Research Essays
Comma: A Look at Touch Through Seating
How can the shape of a seat influence personal and social interaction?
This journal essay examines a uniquely designed comma-shaped seating element, or “Commas,” to explore how form influences touch, privacy, and social connection in public space. Through a post-occupancy evaluation using covert observations, the study analyses how inner and outer curves afford both solitary retreat and shared intimacy.
The findings reveal how subtle design gestures can support overlooked urban experiences such as quiet pause, companionship, and informal use by diverse users including women and free-ranging dogs. The essay argues for seating designs that balance personal and collective space, enriching everyday life in public environments.
Reading Seminars
A collective space for reflection, dialogue, and design awareness.
The EPS Reading Seminar brings together students, practitioners, and researchers to engage with selected texts that explore the relationship between people, environments, and everyday life. Through guided discussions rather than fixed conclusions, the seminar examines themes such as childhood and nature, behaviour and wellbeing, learning through play, and what our cities and institutions quietly teach us.
Rooted in the belief that designers do not just shape spaces but shape experiences, the seminar encourages critical reflection as an essential part of practice. It is a space to slow down, question assumptions, and cultivate design with conscience rather than form alone.
We share updates on our current readings and upcoming sessions on LinkedIn and Instagram. If you would like to join the seminar group or stay informed about the next book, you can reach out to us there.