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John Zeisel, Inquiry by Design: Environment/Behavior/Neuroscience in

Architecture, Interiors, Landscape and Planning, W.W. Norton & Co., New
York (2006) ISBN 0-393-73184-7 400pp.,...

Article  in  Journal of Environmental Psychology · September 2007

DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2007.05.001

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 Author's personal copy
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Journal of Environmental Psychology 27 (2007) 252–253
Book review
Inquiry by Design: Environment/Behavior/Neuroscience in
Architecture, Interiors, Landscape and Planning, John
Zeisel. W.W. Norton & Co., New York (2006). 400pp.,
$34.95(paperback), ISBN: 0-393-73184-7
John Zeisel is president of Hearthstone Alzheimer Care
in Lexington, Massachusetts, and lives in New York City.
He has taught at Harvard University’s Graduate School of
Design, Yale University, and McGill University.
Social scientists, planners, and designers use environment-
behavior (EB) concepts, approaches and findings to frame
questions, define problems, and guide solutions. Paralleling
this expanding interest in the EB field, professionals,
scholars, and journalists have produced a host of books
on concepts and applications in environmental design
research, facility programming and evaluation. To some
extent successful design and planning movements, such as
new urbanism, universal design, continuous improvement,
and sustainable development, have a basis in EB research
and theory. EB research has also succeeded in making
researchers and policymakers aware that the physical
environment and context matters. Notably the exploding
program of active living research (examining the physical
environment, physical activity, and health outcomes) draws
from methods and concepts central to EB research to
understand how the physical environment can affect
physical activity and health outcomes.
For research methods, however, people interested in EB
and environmental design research have had to rely on
traditional social science research methods books.
Although often excellent in covering the methods, those
books tend to overlook the physical environment and thus
lack an adequate connection to E-B and environmental
design research. John Zeisel’s 1981 Inquiry by Design filled
that void with a research methods book that emphasized
design research and application. (I reviewed it favorably
then for the Journal of the American Planning Association.)
Now, 25 years later, he has revised and updated that
classic.
As in the original version, Zeisel presents a clear and
well-organized discussion of the basic research tools and
the need for creative use of them. The revised edition
echoes but does not replicate, the original’s structure. Like
the original, it has two parts. The first part discusses design
and research activities, and the second part describes the
research methods. It has solid chapters on observing
doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2007.05.001
www.elsevier.com/locate/jep
physical traces, observing environmental behavior, focused
interviews, standardized questionnaires, asking questions,
and using archival data. The revised edition adds sections
on neuroscience for environmental design and research.
Starting with discussion of physical traces and observing
behavior makes sense for the applied work of environ-
mental design research.
The first part is unique for a research methods book, but
adds value and relevance for researchers, educators and
students interested in environmental design research.
Separate chapters discuss design, research, research-design
cooperation, and effects of such cooperation. For readers
who see a dichotomy between design and research, these
chapters reveal surprising commonalities between design-
ing and researching. Both designers and researchers first
develop concepts or images, then formulate hypotheses or
present those concepts, and then test them. Although they
do these activities in different ways and for different
purposes, designers and researchers can work together on
each of these phases through design programming, design
review, and post-occupancy evaluation (POE). Program-
ming develops the concepts/images; design review deals
with creating hypotheses and presenting the information;
and POE tests it to feed into new design programming. The
exploration of commonalities may break through barriers
and encourage design students to embrace research, and
researchers to take on design problems.
The revised edition stands out from other research
methods books in other ways. It reports many exemplary
EB studies, includes photos of places and people in places
as well as sketches and plans relating to environmental-
design research concepts. It also presents eleven case
studies to illustrate the use of the methods for environ-
mental design. These include the use of:
 Design-research collaboration work to create knowl-
edge-based principles, contribute to design and environ-
ment-behavior information, and produce excellent
designs.
 E-B research for design and space planning.
 Various measures, including physical traces, behavioral
observation through a PDA, photos, and recording,
focused interviews (including drawings), questionnaires
archival analysis, in multi-level and multi-method
studies for design.
 Neuroscience principles in design for people with
Alzheimer’s disease.
 Author's personal copy
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Book review / Journal of Environmental Psychology 27 (2007) 252–253
The book also updates the first edition with reports of
newer studies and newer examples of physical traces, focused
interviews, questionnaires, archival data as well as the new
sections on neuroscience, and a variety of different and new
studies and methods, such as GIS, focused walk-through
interviews, and archival data and questionnaires to find out
the desired locations for cab drivers and streetwalkers.
Regrettably, while making the design research connection,
the book does not discuss experiment design, multi-item scale
construction, ethics in research, effect size, meta analysis, and
writing up the study. (I will carefully overlook a minor error
on pages 216 and 217, and 397, because I suspect it may
trouble me more than most readers. Hint: Nasar.) However,
used with a traditional social science research methods text,
which covers these areas, one can get a full understanding of
environment-behavior research and applications.
I heartily recommend the revised Inquiry by Design:
Environment/Behavior/Neuroscience in Architecture, Interiors,
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253
Landscape and Planning. It is a useful overview for anyone
(designers, planners, policy makers, social scientists and
others, whether novices or experienced researchers) interested
in conducting environment-behavior research or using such
research to improve places for people. It presents the basics
for such research from planning the study to carrying it out to
using the results. As such, it is a valuable addition to the field
for practitioners, educators, and students in EB and design;
and because of its unique stress on the physical environment,
it can inform other social scientists, and should be part of any
introductory research methods course.
Jack L. Nasar1
City & Regional Planning, The Ohio State University,
275 W Woodruff, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
E-mail address: nasar.1@osu.edu
1
Jack L. Nasar (FAICP) is a Professor of City & Regional Planning,
graduate faculty in Landscape Architecture, member of the Center for
Cognitive Science, and Criminal Justice Research Center at The Ohio
State University, and editor of Journal of Planning Literature. His research
centers on environmental meanings, cognition, and facility evaluation.
2006 saw the paperback release of his book, Design by Competition:
Making Design Competition Work. Other books in paperback include The
Evaluative Image of the City, and Environmental Aesthetics: Theory,
Research and Applications. He has two new edited books, Universal Design
and Visitability: From Accessibility to Zoning (edited with J. Evans-
Cowley) slated for release in April 2007, and Designing for Designers
(edited with W. F. E. Preiser and T. Fisher) slated for release in August
2007.