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Digging Deep: The Effect of Design on the Social Behavior and Attitudes of People Working in Underground Workplaces in Europe

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Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018) (IEA 2018)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 825))

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Abstract

With the cities of the world grappling with the ever-increasing challenge of land scarcity, sustainable solutions such as Underground Workplaces (UW) have been getting renewed interest. However, considering the hefty investments that will go into building UW and since the success of this solution relies on the wellbeing of the people who are to occupy it, there is a need to examine existing UW from a human factor point of view. In this paper, we present an analysis of how design factors in UW affect the attitudes and social behavior of employees and how these perceptions and attitudes towards the workplace vary across different work types. According to our analysis organic elements, art, architecture and lighting affect social behavior and attitudes. These factors can be manipulated according to the type of work and environment in a way that is in line with company values. The paper also attempts to create a framework for how the significance of the work environment varies with the type of work and workplaces.

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Acknowledgements

This material is based on research/work supported by the Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge under L2 NIC Award No. L2NICCFP1-2013-2. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the L2 NIC.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Vinita Venugopal, Adam C. Roberts & Chee-Kiong Soh

  2. SINTEF Transport Safety and Informatics, Trondheim, Norway

    Gunnar D. Jenssen

  3. Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Kian-Woon Kwok

  4. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Zheng Tan

  5. Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    George I. Christopoulos

Authors
  1. Vinita Venugopal
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  2. Gunnar D. Jenssen
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  3. Adam C. Roberts
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  4. Kian-Woon Kwok
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  5. Zheng Tan
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  6. George I. Christopoulos
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  7. Chee-Kiong Soh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vinita Venugopal .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of the Republic of San Marino, San Marino, San Marino

    Sebastiano Bagnara

  2. Centre for Clinical Risk Management and Patient Safety, Tuscany Region, Florence, Italy

    Riccardo Tartaglia

  3. Centre for Clinical Risk Management and Patient Safety, Tuscany Region, Florence, Italy

    Sara Albolino

  4. Fraunhofer FKIE, Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Thomas Alexander

  5. International Ergonomics Association, Tokyo, Japan

    Yushi Fujita

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Venugopal, V. et al. (2019). Digging Deep: The Effect of Design on the Social Behavior and Attitudes of People Working in Underground Workplaces in Europe. In: Bagnara, S., Tartaglia, R., Albolino, S., Alexander, T., Fujita, Y. (eds) Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018). IEA 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 825. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96068-5_85

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