Taxonomy and environment—Aging interaction: a case for small town diversity

This paper demonstrates the utility of an environment-behavior conceptual scheme proposed by Lawton for guiding the development of taxonomies of social and environmental attributes of rural small towns. A twelve-dimension psychosocial and environmental taxonomy is presented based on data gathered from 989 older residents of 18 small Kansas towns of 2500 and less in population. Implications of taxonomic development for the further conceptualization and definition of rurality is discussed. The role which taxonomic development plays in environmental design, planning and program intervention is also presented.