Proxemics
“We learn a place and how to visualize spatial relationships, as children, on foot and with imagination. Place and the scale of space must be measured against our bodies and their capabilities.”
(More at Walking in Place, via Thomas Angermann.)
This reminded me of Edward T. Hall on Proxemics:
“Proxemics [is] the study of the human use of space within the context of culture. In The Hidden Dimension (1966), Hall developed his theory of proxemics, arguing that human perceptions of space, although derived from sensory apparatus that all humans share, are molded and patterned by culture. He argued that differing cultural frameworks for defining and organizing space, which are internalized in all people at an unconscious level, can lead to serious failures of communication and understanding in cross-cultural settings. This book analyzed both the personal spaces that people form around their bodies as well as the macro-level sensibilities that shape cultural expectations about how streets, neighborhoods and cities should be properly organized.”
I find it a bit odd that proxemics has received little attention by tech researchers or those interested in embodied interaction, especially given his propensity for systems-thinking. In The Silent Language and The Dance of Life, Hall looks at non-verbal communication and concepts of space and time in the transmission of messages and social experience.
But for more on proxemics - one of several nonverbal communication theories - and distance (Halls’ Hidden Dimension) see this page on Proxemic Theory.