The way the interaction between people and place is understood has implications not
only for the explanation of the environment's influence on identity, but also for the
definition of the interdisciplinary fields of environmental psychology and the
interdisciplinary social sciences of the built environment, for research methods, and for
the development of theories within the field. At the same time, some of the different
theoretical perspectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and the use of theory
depends on the type of research (Bell, Greene, Fisher & Baum, 2001; cf. Moore, 1997a).
Environmental psychology has been through a series of developments regarding
different perspectives of place. Theories have been criticized, leading to further research
and development of new theories. Perspectives on place have gone from "physical
determinism", where the environment, dimensions, colors, and shapes were seen as
having direct effects on behavior, to a view of the people-environment relationship as
dynamic and interactive (Franck, 1984). A dynamic and interactive perspective on the
environment includes the social, cultural and psychological meanings of a place, which
can also be expressed in philosophical and poetic forms.