Understanding the Challenge
How do we build people-centred environments that facilitate community engagement? A key part of urban design is understanding the psychological impact of the space; how a space impacts us psychologically influences how we use it, how we interact with others, and how we build community. When considering other areas of psychology, having feelings of control and attachment – ‘Psychological Ownership’ - is a strong predictor of well-being. Yet, there is currently no tool available to assess psychological ownership over space.
Our Approach
The goal of this research is to validate a new measure of ‘Psychological Ownership Over Space’ which will serve as a foundation to build an interdisciplinary research program that aims to understand:
1. The perception of ownership over a given space.
2. What features of a space enhance feelings of ownership.
3. How feelings of ownership predict usage.
4. How feelings of ownership predict care.
5. How feelings of ownership predict individual and community wellbeing.
6. How feelings of ownership relate to collective action toward community goals.
This project will investigate how psychological ownership contributes to engagement with urban green spaces (e.g. care, use, sustainable and environmental behaviours). We will also evaluate how relationships between psychological ownership and engagement impact individual and community wellbeing.
Project Lead
Psychology Department
Email: merryn.constable@northumbria.ac.uk
Project Themes
