Placeways: A Theory of the Human Environment

Rating:
Summary: Rediscovering the Power of Place
Review: "Placeways" should be on the reading list of every city planner and architect. Sociologist Eugene Walter pulls from history, environmental psychology, architecture, and philosophy to show the importance of building places that stimulate people's imaginations and senses. He warns that we will make a world of dead places, if we continue to create built environments that exclude human expressiveness. Nondescript cities, suburban developments, and glass highrises don't energize us because they have no soul, no connection to our social and inner lives. A well-designed place conjures a sense of history and "evokes images, feeling, sentiments, meanings, and the work of imagination."

Walter's exploration of how sense of place influenced ancient cultures forms the bulk of the book. Though I scanned the detailed discussions of Aboriginal, Greek, and Roman place-making, I was moved by his passion for returning feeling and meaning to modern architecture.