Spatial perception in the context of environmental psychology and the climate change experience: an analysis of climate fiction novels

The Anthropocene, the period in which we currently live, is defined as an era in which the impacts of human activities on ecosystems have reached irreversible dimensions, and climate change–induced crises have profoundly transformed both the physical environment and human psychology. Processes such as global temperature rise, depletion of water resources, and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events lead to fundamental emotional, cognitive, and behavioral transformations in the relationship individuals establish with their environment. For this reason, the experience of climate change is a multidimensional phenomenon that cannot be adequately explained solely through scientific indicators and therefore requires evaluation through individual experience. This thesis aims to analysis the effects of climate change on human experience within the framework of environmental psychology. Within the scope of the study, the climate fiction novels The Water Knife (2015) by Paolo Bacigalupi, Forty Signs of Rain (2004) by Kim Stanley Robinson, and The Drowned World (1962) by J. G. Ballard are examined. These works, which address different climate crisis scenarios, are analysed in terms of spatial transformation and psychological impacts. The interaction between climate-induced changes in space and the emotional and behavioral responses of the characters is evaluated through thematic analysis. The study is conducted using a qualitative research approach and adopts a comparative multiple case study design. Data are collected through document analysis, and the novels are coded and analysed within the framework of environmental psychology based on their narrative structures, spatial transformations, and the psychological responses of characters to environmental stimuli. The findings indicate that the novels examined convey environmental crises not merely as a physical backdrop but through spatial atmospheres that shape experiences such as individuals' search for safety, place identity, alienation, psychological resilience, and sensory vulnerability. This demonstrates that the climate crisis is experienced not only as an environmental phenomenon but also as an emotional and existential condition. By establishing a theoretical interaction among architecture, literature, and environmental psychology, the study renders the spatial and psychological dimensions of the climate change experience visible from an interdisciplinary perspective and offers an original contribution to the literature. Anahtar kelimeler: Environment, Environmental Psychology, Climate Change, Climate Fiction, Spatial Perception.