Book excerpt: Originally published in 1970, EDRA 1 is a record of the conference proceedings of the 1st annual Environmental Design Research Association conference. The papers featured in this volume represent the proceedings of the conference and are concerned mainly with contributions of scientific disciplines towards the creation of improved methods of problem-solving environmental design, as well as understanding the nature of human responses to the environment. The papers included in this volume focus on developing models and methods towards a framework of coherence and definable structure of environmental design, with the ultimate objective of achieving an optimum environment for man. This volume will be of great interest to planners, architects and academics of urbanisation alike. Although published over 40 years ago, the book’s content is still as relevant and interesting today as it was at the time of publication.