Privacy
Theconcept ofprivacy,as it relatesto environmental psychology, does not referto being alone or to completely shutting oneself offfrom others. Instead,itisunderstoodasthe “controlofothers’ accessto oneself.”’Itisthe“control” aspectthatisimportant and not a self- imposed isolation. “Privacy can be defined as anindividual’sfreedom to choose what he will communicate about himselfand to whom he will communicate itina given circumtance.~’~
A.F. Westin,in his book Privacy and Freedom, suggests four states ofprivacy: solitude, intimacy, anonymity,andreserve.” Each refers to a particulardegree ofprivacydepending uponthe amount and type of information about oneselfthat oneis willing to share with others. For a number ofwriters this concept forms the “basis ofmost human spatial behavior.’”’
To translate this viewpointinto practical environmental designs is not easy. However, a gencral principleisthat we should attemptto designresponsiveenvironments,which permiteasyalteration betweena state ofseparateness and a state oftogetherness. Ifprivacy has a shifting dialectic quality, then, ideally, we should offer people environments that canberesponsive totheir desiresfor contact or absence ofcontact with others.”
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