Mind and Places

This book explores the contributions of psychological, neuroscientific and philosophical perspectives to the design of contemporary cities. Pursuing an innovative and multidisciplinary approach, it addresses the need to re-launch knowledge and creativity as major cultural and institutional bases of human communities. Dwelling is a form of knowledge and re-invention of reality that involves both the tangible dimension of physical places and their mental representation. Findings in the neuroscientific field are increasingly opening stimulating perspectives on the design of spaces, and highlight how our ability to understand other people is strongly related to our corporeity. The first part of the book focuses on the contributions of various disciplines that deal with the spatial dimension, and explores the dovetailing roles that science and art can play from a multidisciplinary perspective. In turn, the second part formulates proposals on how to promote greater integration between the aesthetic and cultural dimension in spatial design. Given its scope, the book will benefit all scholars, academics and practitioners who are involved in the process of planning, designing and building places, and will foster an international exchange of research, case studies, and theoretical reflections to confront the challenges of designing conscious places and enable the development of communities.

Contenu

Borders. Dwelling in the borders.- Perception. Perceiving space in pictures .- Dreams. The relational link between nocturnal and diurnal creativity.- Body. Sound Spaces and the Embodied Musical Mind .- Memory. Places and communities memory in "powdered modernity" between literature, history and anthropology.- Landscapes. Expressive landscapes, perception and design.- Metropolis. Sensory ethnography paths in the city of differences.- Reuse. Re-contextualization and re-signification in art and care.- Time. The city as an event of time and space.- Identity. Beyond places, beyond identities, for a cultural redefinition of the relationship between man and nature .- Borders. The design of the unfinished as a new transdisciplinary perspective.- Perception. The Representation of space, from bidimensionality to tridimensionality.- Dreams. The cultural and creative conversion of abandoned buildings as a driver of urban regeneration.- Body. Spatial transitions in the scene architecture between space, event and movement.- Memory. Dwelling in the leftovers.- Landscapes. Bottom-up approach for cultural landscape and local identity mapping.- Metropolis. Urban mindscapes.- Reuse. Urban heritage and liveability.- Time. Hybrid spaces for users-bodies between work and hospitality.- Identity. Place identity between preservation and innovation.