Environmental Programming and Action Research

A range of techniques have emerged in recent years for the conduct of environmental programming. Such programming techniques are meant to facilitate the systematic application of environment-behavior research to the design process. However, despite the efforts of both researchers and practitioners, the success of environmental programming in bringing about effective research application remains quite limited. This article reviews several reasons for these difficulties in research application, and concludes that the problem is rooted in quite basic conceptions of the nature and goals of behavioral research. An alternative "action research" approach to the conduct of environment-behavior studies is then presented. Some of the benefits of viewing environmental research and programming as interrelated phases within a larger "action" framework are considered.