ARCHITECTURAL ENVIRONMENT AS A SOURCE AND A MEANS OF PROTECTION AGAINST SOCIAL FEARS AND ANXIETY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/2415-8151.2025.37.10Keywords:
social fears, visual perception, architectural environment, experimental psychology, emotions, architecture, anxietiesAbstract
The modern urban environment has a significant impact on the psycho-emotional state of a person. Architecture not only performs utilitarian functions, but also forms a sense of security, comfort or, conversely, anxiety and alienation. Visual perception of space can activate social fears – persistent negative emotions associated with the negative impact of the architectural environment on a person. This article examines how elements of the architectural environment can provoke or intensify such fears, as well as possible ways to minimize them. Purpose. Analysis and systematization of visual signs of danger of the architectural environment that provoke social fears. Methodology. One of the most important tools for studying architectural form, the informative qualities of which are revealed only in the process of perception, is experimental psychology. There is a close connection and correlation between it and the architectural composition. The methods used in the study are dedicated to the socalled «operator» level of visual perception, in which elements, semantic and logical units that can have symbolic expression work. Results. Social fears provoked by the architectural environment are a form of anxiety associated with being in public places, interacting with other people or feeling vulnerable in the urban environment. They can manifest themselves in the following forms: fear of crowds (demophobia), fear of open (agoraphobia) or closed (claustrophobia) spaces, anxiety due to the lack of social security (vandalism, signs of criminogenicity), discomfort from potential aggression from the environment. Scientific novelty. It consists in revealing the role of the visual properties of architecture as a provocateur of social fears and anxiety states, as well as potential opportunities for architectural composition as a protector against them. Practical relevance. The architectural environment can both intensify and mitigate social fears. The obtained data expand the understanding of the visual properties of the architectural environment and can be used both in architectural environment design practices and in pedagogy.
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