Victoria Plaza Revisited

the long version

This monograph is based upon a workshop sponsored by the Institute on Aging and Environment at the 1994 EDRA Conference. San Antonio is the home of Victoria Plaza, the first public housing facility specifically designed for and limited to older persons, where Frances Carp conducted a nine year longitudinal study of the effects of the housing on its residents. The convening of the 25th Annual Meeting of the Environmental Design Research Association in San Antonio in March of 1994, offered the opportunity to use the occasion to mark the significance of the Victoria Plaza study and to reflect on the substantive and methodological lessons that can be learned from it. The monograph includes Frances Carp's reflections on her pioneering experiences with Post Occupancy Evaluations and the lessons applicable today. Min Kantrowitz and Gerald Weisman present their comments and conclusions.