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The spread of newly 'invented' places, such as theme parks, shopping malls and revamped historic areas, necessitates a redefinition of the concept of 'place' from an architectural perspective. In this interdisciplinary work, these invented places are categorized according to the different phenomenological experiences they are able to provide. The book explores how such 'cloning spaces' use placemaking and placemarketing in attempt to replicate the characteristics found in urban spaces traditionally viewed as successful, and how these places can affect society's environmental perception. A range of international empirical studies illustrates how such invented places can be perceived as legitimate urban spaces, and contribute towards the quality of life in today's cities.
In everyday life, most people do not reflect seriously on the impacts of architecture and environmental aesthetics on their well-being and health. Originally published in 2001 as part of the Ethnoscapes: Current Challenges in the Environmental Social Sciences series, reissued now with a new series introduction, Aesthetics, Well-being and Health: Essays within Architecture and Environmental Aesthetics, is an intriguing volume bringing together professionals working in architecture, planning, urban design and social policy with academics from both humanities and social sciences to provide a broad-based and insightful discussion on how aesthetics affect us emotionally and physically. The essays...
Originally published in 1995, as part of the Ethnoscapes: Current Challenges in the Environmental Social Sciences series, reissued now with a new series introduction, The Home: Words, Interpretations, Meanings and Environments, written by by leading theorists and empirical researchers offers an interdisciplinary and multi-cultural spectrum of viewpoints on the study of the home concept. Among the disciplines covered are environment-behaviour research, anthropology, geography, archaeology, architecture, political science, and linguistics-place name research. The authors in this volume focus on refining our concepts of home, our knowledge of the uses of home, and the relationship of home to th...
Originally published in 1993, as part of the Ethnoscapes: Current Challenges in the Environmental Social Sciences series, reissued now with a new series introduction, The Meaning and Use of Housing presents a re-evaluation of the use and meaning of residential environments. It integrates methodological and philosophical approaches to assist in the making of comparisons across issues, concerns, disciplines and countries, and links theory, research and practice. It spans the globe, reviewing studies of every conceivable form of housing. In these studies a wide range of social science, design, management and policy perspectives are harnessed to enrich our understanding of the central place in people's life, their homes.
A first-class work of reference that will be both an essential resource for independent study as well as a useful aid in teaching: a solid but also provocative starting point for wider exploration of the city.
Originally published in 1990, as part of the Ethnoscapes: Current Challenges in the Environmental Social Sciences series, reissued now with a new series introduction, Vernacular Architecture: Paradigms of Environmental Response was not meant to be collection to represent one view or approach. The only unifying element among the essays is the subject matter. It is clear that there are not only disagreements over the interpretation of objective facts, but more essentially there is a fundamental difference in the pursuit of scientific knowledge. However, regardless of these differences, if the present volume as an attempt to create a theoretical construct called into question the ideographic approaches which do not penetrate the surface, which persistently deal with formal qualities, and which are content with only simple deterministic relations, then it satisfies the major criterion that this collection of essays set for itself, namely to broaden the scope of discussion.
Examines how cities of various sizes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean are making walkability improvements a part of their overall urban revitalization strategy. Walkable precincts have become an important component of urban revitalization on both sides of the Atlantic. In Walkable Cities, Carlos J. L. Balsas examines a range of city scales and geographic settings on three continents, focusing on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), Latin America (Brazil and Mexico), and the United States (Phoenix and New York City). He explains how this “pedestrianization of Main Street” approach to central locations (downtowns and midtowns) has contributed to strengthening various urban functi...
Originally published in 1995 as part of the Ethnoscapes: Current Challenges in the Environmental Social Sciences series, reissued now with a new series introduction, On the Aesthetics of Architecture is a result of an interdisciplinary study in architectural theory, psychology and philosophy and the author’s experience as a practicing architect. It tries to relate theories of aesthetics and recent advances in the psychology of visual perception to the practice of design. The text starts with an analysis of traditional and contemporary schools of thought in architectural theory, and then proceeds through the formulation of a general theory of aesthetics based on perceptual and cognitive inf...
Originally published in 1988, reissued now with a new series introduction, New Directions in Environmental Participation was the third in a trilogy of books to open the series Ethnoscapes: Current Challenges in the Environmental Social Sciences. These three titles brought together specially commissioned contributions that cover much of the range of topics that the series as a whole would cover. Although the following volumes would not have the same format, the opening trilogy gave an overview of what was to come, while also providing a broad base for the future authors to build upon. For this volume the editors chose to deal directly with current developments in environmental participation. This brings together contributions that range from studies of hands-on user participation to explorations on a much broader scale of the role we all play in shaping our environment. The role of communication, education and research in the participation process is a motif that is apparent throughout the contributions.
The need for a human-orientated approach to urbanism is well understood, and yet all too often this dimension remains lacking in urban design. In this book the authors argue for and develop socially restorative urbanism – a new conceptual framework laying the foundations for innovative ways of thinking about the relationship between the urban spatial structure and social processes to re-introduce a more explicit people-centred element into urban place-making and its adaptation. Focusing on this interplay between humans and the built environment, two new concepts are developed: the transitional edge – a socio-spatial concept of the urban realm; and Experiemics – a participative process ...