Becoming Places


Book Description

This book is about the practices and politics of place and identity formation - the slippery ways in which who we are becomes wrapped up with where we are. Drawing on the social theories of Deleuze and Bourdieu, the book analyzes the sense of place as socio-spatial assemblage and as embodied habitus, through a broad range of case studies from nationalist monuments and new urbanist suburbs to urban laneways and avant garde interiors.




Planning Urban Places


Book Description

Urban change is often difficult because we are dealing with people’s elusive notions of place and perception, time and change. Urban design and planning in a changing urban context so that it remains relevant for people is elusive because the idea of place is embedded in memory and identity – but whose memory and whose identity? This book seeks to understand the urban change dynamic so that the planning of urban places aligns with the dynamic of people’s perception of place. Planning Urban Places examines the premise that building cities is a concrete business surrounded by a shifting context. It discusses the notion of urban design and placemaking from the perspective of place perception and cognitive psychology, place philosophy and human geography. It also considers network theory to help illustrate the self-organising paradigm of small word network theory for planning urban places.




How Cities Become Brands


Book Description




How Spaces Become Places


Book Description

"A diverse set of place makers describe how they transformed contested or empty "spaces" into vibrant and functional "places." Spanning four countries and ten U.S. locales, these projects range from building affordable housing, to community building in the aftermath of racial violence, to the integration of the arts in community development. By recounting how they built trust, diagnosed local problems, and convened stakeholders to invent solutions, place makers offer pragmatic, instructive strategies to employ in other communities"--




Trading Places


Book Description

Caring for an elderly parent can be extremely challenging. The role reversal involved is emotionally and intellectually demanding, and many caregivers find themselves unprepared to undertake such a difficult task. In Trading Places: Becoming My Mother's Mother, author Sandra Bullock Smith shares her personal experiences spending ten years caring for her ailing mother. This heartfelt look at the trials and tribulations of that decade offers powerful insight and encouragement for anyone entering into a similar period of life. Smith's touching stories share the heartbreaking, and sometimes comical, moments she experienced while providing assistance to her aging parent-and how they mirrored similar events from her own childhood. In a very real sense, the two women traded places. Smith found herself uttering phrases she heard all too often as a child, such as, "Don't give your food to the dog" and, "You've had enough sugar today." Smith began jotting down the things she said, and thus this charming book was born. Filled with respect, compassion, and love, this uplifting and amusing memoir is for anyone involved in elder care or who may face the role in the future.




Place


Book Description

Thoroughly revised and updated, this text introduces students of human geography and allied disciplines to the fundamental concept of place, combining discussion about everyday uses of the term with the complex theoretical debates that have grown up around it. A thoroughly revised and updated edition of this highly successful short introduction to place Features a new chapter on the use of place in non-geographical arenas, such as in ecological theory, art theory and practice, philosophy, and social theory Combines discussion about everyday uses of the term 'place' with the more complex theoretical debates that have grown up around it Uses familiar stories drawn from the news, popular culture, and everyday life as a way to explain abstract ideas and debates Traces the development of the concept from the 1950s through its subsequent appropriation by cultural geographers, and the linking of place to politics




Framing Places


Book Description

Framing Places investigates how the built forms of architecture and urban design act as mediators of social practices of power. It is an account of how our lives are "framed" within the clusters of rooms, streets and cities we inhabit.




Becoming an Urban Planner


Book Description

Becoming an URBAN PLANNER Are you considering a career in urban planning? Becoming an Urban Planner is the best place to start. Through in-depth interviews with more than eighty urban planners across the United States and Canada, this book gives you a valuable insider’s look at your future profession as it is lived and practiced. Becoming an Urban Planner introduces you to the urban planning profession—its history, what you must know to prepare for a career in planning, and the different types of planning jobs. Beyond the basics, though, it shows you the realities of what it’s really like to be a planner today. You’ll learn about: The skills you’ll need and how to hone them in school and on the job Potential career paths and what people in these positions do Using internships, job shadowing, and other opportunities to break into the field Deciding among planning specialties and moving between public and private sectors How to search for and get your first position Emerging areas in planning, including sustainability and climate change Each topic is explored through in-depth interviews with both generalists and others who have devoted their careers to a particular aspect of planning. These professionals share their insights and describe how they have arrived at where they are and how beginners like you can learn from their experiences. With the information from this book to guide and inspire you, you will be able to chart your own path to success as an urban planner.




Mediated Identities in the Futures of Place: Emerging Practices and Spatial Cultures


Book Description

This book examines the emerging problems and opportunities that are posed by media innovations, spatial typologies, and cultural trends in (re)shaping identities within the fast-changing milieus of the early 21st Century. Addressing a range of social and spatial scales and using a phenomenological frame of reference, the book draws on the works of Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Don Hide to bridge the seemingly disparate, yet related theoretical perspectives across a number of disciplines. Various perspectives are put forward from media, human geography, cultural studies, technologies, urban design and architecture etc. and looked at thematically from networked culture and digital interface (and other) perspectives. The book probes the ways in which new digital media trends affect how and what we communicate, and how they drive and reshape our everyday practices. This mediatization of space, with fast evolving communication platforms and applications of digital representations, offers challenges to our notions of space, identity and culture and the book explores the diverse yet connected levels of technology and people interaction.




The Politics of Sacred Places


Book Description

The Politics of Sacred Places is a study of the socio-political dimensions of sacred sites in Israel–Palestine, drawing on over 20 years of in-depth ethnographic research which introduces cutting-edge theories on secularization, struggles for recognition, and diversity issues. This book focuses on contemporary sacred sites and their socio-political meanings for minorities within a hegemonic and a secularizing state-system. It argues that sacred places provide a space that is less scrutinized by the state and where alternative visions of the socio-political may be produced. A plethora of sites and case studies are examined, including the rural shrine of Maqam abu al-Hijja in the lower Galilee, the Mosque of Hassan Bek in the heart of Tel Aviv-Jaffa and the most disputed sacred place in the region, the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem. These sites are explored through mostly a phenomenological lens and in various contexts, from the individual body to the global. This book offers a critical-analytical study of the socio-political aspects of sacred sites in contemporary societies within the broader understanding of scale and the spatial turn in the study of religion.