Over the first half of the semester for my Social Issues in Urban and Regional Development class, we discussed many topics, but one subject that personally impacted me the most from our lectures has been Environmental Affordances. Affordances are defined as an object’s properties that show the possible actions users can take with it, thereby suggesting how they may interact with that object, (James J. Gibson, 1977) while Environmental Affordances is what the environment offers the individual. The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill. (James J. Gibson, 1977) As for Urban Planning and Design, people are limited by these environmental affordances and they fit themselves and build upon what their natural given environment has provided them with.

 

Neighborhoods, cities, and lives are shaped by the niches in society, and these environments can be experienced differently by different people and can afford different behaviors, meaning one planned design does not afford everyone the same thing. Gibson suggests that a niche is a set of affordances, but over time humans have been reducing the amount of current environmental affordances. Today’s environment has been converted from the natural to the artificial, due to overuse. Although, Gibson explains how humans have not created a new environment, but instead modified it to suit their needs. Yet, we largely continue to design for generalizability and not specific niches. Mankind has made more available what benefits them, and less of what injures or affords potential harm, which can be harmful to other species and niches. (James Jordan, What Our Worlds Have Afforded Us).

 

The concept of affordances can be seen in urban design through sustainability. To avoid the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance, cities and their relative locations provide guidelines and a set of needs that must be met in order for comfort and survival, which then exists relative to a scale of human needs. These wants are then shaped by human perceived needs, which can make urban areas easy or difficult to live in. This directly relates to Urban Planning as humans have used up their allowance of some natural resources that Earth can replenish.

 

The reason why this topic impacted me personally, is because we have been using affordances to our advantages for too long without thinking about the impact it will have on the Earth and other organisms. If we continue to use up our allowance of natural resources that the Earth can replenish, then we are using resources that will not keep up with human consumption. More specifically, resources like soil, oil, clean water, clean air, carbon sequestration, etc. If we look at the current ecological crisis along with the increase in climate change, loss of biodiversity, polluted seas, desertification, and loss of agricultural land are already present problems and have done significant harm to our planet and individual niches. 

 

However, it is not all bad because depending on specific affordances available to you, it could have had a major positive impact on a person’s socio-economic factors. For example, I grew up in a small rural community found in northern New Mexico called Espanola. And my niche has many affordances that shaped who I am today. Growing up in a working-class family forced me to become ambitious, yet also keeps me grounded by reminding me where I come from. Having close family and friends all around me when I was growing up helped me develop the confidence and sense of support I needed to become successful. As well as encouraged me to travel to other places and experience more in life with a strong sense of community. But, sadly the future of our planet is looking pretty bleak if we are to continue to limit ourselves by taking more than we can give, or by taking more than the Earth can replenish.

 

To combat this, I suggest that by embracing a theory of affordances as a guiding trail and error, environmental policymakers are better prepared to encourage policies that interpret sustainable thinking into sustainable action and behavior, that will hopefully turn our socio-ecological system toward a more sustainable path. As a student pursuing my degree in Environmental Planning and Design, I am naturally concerned about the environment’s well being. It is our future responsibility to design areas that will have specific sustainable functions for use by people and other living organisms. By creating sustainable outlets, we can even create affordances that reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. 

 

Citations:

• James J. Gibson, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, 1977

• James Jordan, What Our Worlds Have Afforded Us Slide, 2019