Abstract

Environmental psychology is a field of study that emerged in the 1960s as an area of applied psychology. Some authors trace its origins to the theoretical developments seeking to understand the relationship between people and their environments, paying special attention to contexts mediated by relevant psychological elements. Thus, studies on the discipline’s history reconstitute concepts, methodologies, and case studies to follow a continuum regarding its origin. Beyond their causal relationship with environmental psychology’s origins, this background is important because it provides the foundational theoretical framework that allowed the studies carried out in the 1960s and ‘70 s to make progress toward the construction of the differentiated field of studies we have today. This chapter presents these early steps in environmental psychology, delves into the constitution of a mainstream perspective, and presents the community perspective as a shift that transforms the discipline’s ontological and epistemological positions and introduces an ethical–political dimension oriented toward a commitment to social change. Last, the implications of the community turn are discussed, concluding with a reflection on community environmental psychology’s possibilities and contradictions in the face of contemporary socio-environmental challenges.