Overview

Rethinking the Psychology of Place presents a new approach to Professor David Canter's 1977 Psychology of Place. Providing a unified Theory of Place relevant to human transactions with buildings, cities and nature, the book weaves together psychological, architectural and social perspectives to demonstrate that place is a dynamic phenomenon emerging from embodied experience, memory and social interactions. Central to this are 'place rules' and 'environmental roles' that mediate how individuals relate to and behave within locations, challenging deterministic notions that design directly causes place experiences. Supported by over 160 illustrations, the book advances a nuanced, human-centred understanding of place an evolving, dynamic nexus of action, meaning and form by: Examining the home as an emotionally layered construct central to experiences of place Positioning architecture as a filter of sensory input and a vehicle of symbolic meaning, shaped by cultural templates, architectural styles and building types Using techniques such as space syntax to illustrate how spatial arrangements facilitate human interactions at both the building and metropolitan scale Critiquing modernist architecture's abstraction of meaning Highlighting streets as vital, participatory spaces, while considering how digital culture reshapes how we are present in these environments Challenging dominant biocentric explanations for the restorative benefits of nature and related explorations of preferences for landscapes and place attachment, offering an alternative that emphasises human agency, culture and context By integrating concepts such as place attachment, domocentricity and environmental roles, this book will appeal to students and researchers in environmental psychology, architecture, landscape design, urban planning and environmental sociology, as well as the general reader looking to understand our interactions with our surroundings. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the complex relationships between people and their built and natural environments.

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9780367407117

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Reviews

David Canter’s 1977 Psychology of Place was one of the first comprehensive examinations of the psychological dimensions of places and place experiences. This new “rethinking” of the original work is striking and valuable because Canter illustrates how a better understanding of place and placemaking can provide a physical bulwark against social media, virtual reality, community dissolution, and a smothering placelessness. After reviewing the wide-ranging interdisciplinary research on place, he examines placemaking via architecture, urban design, and landscape restoration. His in-depth discussion is an excellent distillation of the academic and professional progress that place researchers have made over the last fifty years. The book is a compelling contribution to the expanding work on place identity, place attachment, and placemaking. Canter makes a plea “in praise of actual, real presence and all it implies.” David Seamon, Professor Emeritus of Environment-Behavior and Place Studies, Department of Architecture, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas USA; Editor, Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology Our thoughts, emotions, and social interactions are invariably influenced by the physical contexts in which they occur. What made David Canter’s 1977 book so significant was its dual focus: while it aimed to identify the cognitive systems that enable individuals to interpret and navigate their surroundings, its deeper contribution lay in its exploration of the meaning of place —the idea that people and environments are inseparably connected. The unique value of environmental psychology lies in its effort to understand this dynamic relationship. This completely updated edition of The Psychology of Place incorporates five decades of research exploring how we understand different types of places from rooms and buildings through to the cities and landscapes, and considers the implications for both individuals and public policy. Today, we are better equipped than ever to understand why the psychology of place truly matters, and David’s book continues to offer vital insights into this important field. David Uzzell, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Psychology, University of Surrey,UK. Fellow of the British Psychological Society In his latest book, David Canter reconstructs the ‘place’, theme of his 1977 book, in a coverage now vastly broadened. He shows that while place operates as various parts of speech, principally as a noun, but also as a verb, it is most fruitfully considered as a powerful, all-embracing concept. This extraordinary book broadens our understanding of ""place"" much further than Canter´s earlier writings on the subject, transcending various disciplines and a lifetime´s work. It represents many years of extensive, challenging research over more than half a century, drawing upon a vast realm of experience. David Stea, Distinguished Professor, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, and at University of Wisconsin, USA.

Author Information

David Canter, PhD (Psychology), PhD (Music Composition), is Emeritus Professor at the University of Liverpool, UK. He established the first graduate program in Environmental Psychology at the University of Surrey, UK in 1973. He has published a number of related books, including Psychology for Architects, Environmental Interaction, Architectural Psychology, Designing for Therapeutic Environments, Football in its Place and Readings on the Psychology of Place. The 1977 Psychology of Place continues to garner thousands of citations. He is also internationally acclaimed for his work in Criminal Psychology, creating the field of Investigative Psychology, the origin of which is described in his award winning Criminal Shadows. The television series, combining his expertise in environmental psychology and investigative psychology, Mapping Murder, which he wrote and presented has been widely broadcast, giving rise to a popular book of the same name. In addition to his scholarly activities, radio and television broadcasts and popular blogs he has consulted with major architectural firms and blue-chip companies and provided evidence in court and to government enquiries.

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