Open spaces, closed spaces: perceiving built characteristics

Arthur Stamps III, "Effects of Multiple Boundaries on Perceived Spaciousness and Enclosure," Environment and Behavior 45 (2012): 7

The take-away: Based on four original experiments, this article finds associations between perceived spaciousness and walkable area, between perceived enclosure and boundary height, and finally, it observes that boundaries are most impactful for perceived enclosure when they are closest to people.

Abstract

This article reports seven new, original findings, based on 4 experiments, 56 environmental scenes, and 71 participants, on how the factors of area over which one could walk (boundary height, boundary porosity, and boundary proximity) influence perceived spaciousness or enclosure. Perceived spaciousness was most strongly related by the area over which one could walk. Enclosure was most strongly related to boundary height. Proximate boundaries had stronger effects on perceived enclosure than did distal boundaries. Results were highly reproducible over vastly different environmental venues, indicating that the research protocols worked very well. 

Full article (requires access)