B2990 - Ergonomics and Environmental Psychology

Learning outcomes

The student will learn how the environment could impact human cognition and behavior and, the reverse, how human cognition and behavior could impact the environment.

Studying the methods of cognitive ergonomics the students will be able to analyize important factors that affect usability and error-prevention in design. The students will be able to plan interventions for increasing safety, usability, legibility in different domains.

The student will be able to analyze how changes in architectural or landscape design will affect user's cognition and behavior, and how to project interventions in the field of environmental psychology.

Course contents

The course will be in the first semester from end of September until end of November (48 hours). It is divided in two modules, the first (24 hours) with Prof. Marco Costa and the second (24 hours) with Prof. Marco Fabbri.

Module 1 Prof. Marco Costa

Cognitive representation of space: landmarks, edges, paths, nodes, districts.
Aesthetics of architecture and landscape.
Biophilic design and restorative effects of green spaces.
Ecological behaviors.
Place attachment.
Proxemics, interpersonal distances and territoriality.
Color perception, color measure and color use in architecture.
Lightening design.
Environmental noise and noise sensitivity.
Applied cognitive psychology for the improvement of residential, work, therapeutic and educational environments.

Module 2 Prof. Marco Fabbri

The module is focused on cognitive ergonomics. Specifically it will cover the evolution of the concept of interface, user experience, human error and accident analysis, decisional processes, situation awareness, usability and information architecture, accessibility, anthropometry, social ergonomics and, finally, security norms. 

 

Readings/Bibliography

Costa, M (2016). Psicologia ambientale e architettonica. Milano: FrancoAngeli.

Di Nocera, F. (a cura di) (2011). Ergonomia cognitiva. Roma: Carocci.

Optional readings for cognitive ergonomics:

Nicoletti, R., & Vandi, C. (2021). Introduzione all’ergonomia cognitiva. Usabilità ed esperienza utente. Roma: Carocci.

Rizzo, A. (2020). Ergonomia cognitiva. Dalle origini al design thinking. Bologna: Il Mulino.

Teaching methods

Lessons integrated with presentations, videos, practical exercises and the analysis of scientific papers. 

Assessment methods

Written examination with 6 open questions  in 90 minutes. Three questions related to the 1 module and 3 questions related to the second module. 

Office hours

See the website of Marco Costa

See the website of Marco Fabbri