Urbanism from the Perspective of Ecological Psychologists

The perspective of ecological psychology on urbanism is presented, with emphasis on the following premises. The urban milieu consists of complexes of behavior settings. The size of a city should be understood in relationship to the number and variety of its settings, rather than simply in terms of population size. Manning refers to the ratio of number of people per setting; low ratio defines undermanning, while high ratio defines overmanning. Urban centers are likely to exhibit relatively more optimally manned or overmanned settings, relative to rural centers. This condition has important consequences for the behavior and experience of urban inhabitants.