Pre- and Postconstruction Environmental Evaluations

Abstract

Previous research found a low correlation between evaluations by a neighborhood design review board and by the public for drawings of houses. However, the use of drawings raised the possibility that the correlation was due to media effects. That possibility was tested in a second experiment which used as-built photographs for stimuli. The correlation between the review board's preconstruction and the public's postconstruction evaluations was .10, but the correlation between pre- and postconstruction scientific public evaluations was .73. These findings suggest that the lack of correspondence between the review board and the other people was not due to media effects and that the scientific method of design review outperformed the neighborhood design review board method.