EDRA Connections Fall 2017

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DECEMBER 2017

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In this Issue by Nisha A. Fernando, Editor

Alleviating Affordable Housing Stigma by Design by Dr. Cody R. Price

Convergence: Repurposing Vacant Urban Malls into Dementia Friendly City Centers in Oklahoma by Dr. Emily Roberts

In this issue BY NISHA A. FERNANDO

T

he core purpose of research, typically, is to discover new information that guide us to build and expand on knowledge and to develop best practices. Within that traditional framework, environmental design research strives to understand intricate dynamics of relationships between human experiences of designed environments. Occasionally, research findings directs us refocus our views of existing environments to analyze them from brand new angles. This issue of EDRA Connections closely examines and identifies how perceptions of spatial types can be used as powerful tools in identifying as new design approaches. Redefining and reinterpreting the ways in which form and function work together provide a critical new design path, while altering the viewpoints of aesthetics, perceptions and traditional space typologies. In two different empirical studies the two authors inform us how symbolism of form and function can be seen in a new light. Dr. Cody Price investigates how affordable housing can be more supported by altering stigmatization through design. His study presents evidence on perceptions of neighborhood aesthetics and how design decisions can be used as powerful tools to decrease the negative attitudes towards affordable housing. Dr. Emily Roberts illustrates how derelict urban spaces such as shopping malls can be redefined and redesigned to create spaces for elderly

A publication from the Environmental Design Research Association A publication from the Environmental Design Research Association

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with Dementia. The repurposed design can provide substantial and efficient spaces that include care for the elderly while enhancing sustainability of urban spaces. EDRA Connections always takes pride in acting as a platform for such unique and user-centered research conducted by EDRAites. Interested in seeing your research study published as a 1000-word essay in an upcoming issue? Please contact me at: Nisha.Fernando@uwsp.edu. You can find more details at: edra.org/page/ publications.

Nisha A. Fernando, Ph.D. is the Editor of EDRA Connections and a Professor of Interior Architecture, University of WisconsinStevens Point. She can be reached at Nisha. Fernando@uwsp.edu.


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