The Aesthetics of Human Environments

312 Pages·2007·2.36 MB·English

by  Arnold Berleant

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The Aesthetics of Human Environments
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The Aesthetics of
Human Environments
b
Edited by
Arnold Berleant and Allen Carlson
broadview press
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©2007 Arnold Berleant and Allen Carlsonrthur Sullivan
All rights reserved.The use of any part of this publication reproduced,transmitted in any form
or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,or stored in a
retrieval system,without prior written consent of the publisher — or in the case of photocopy-
ing,a licence from ACCESS COPYRIGHT(Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency),One
Yonge Street,Suite 1900,Toronto,Ontario M5E 1E5 — is an infringement of the copyright
law.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
The aesthetics of human environments / edited by Arnold Berleant and Allen Carlson.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13:978-1-55111-685-3
ISBN-10:1-55111-685-5
1.Environment (Aesthetics)—Textbooks. 2.Aesthetics—Textbooks. 3.Culture—Text-
books. I.Berleant,Arnold,1932– II.Carlson,Allen
BH301.E58A36 2007 111′.85 C2006-906754-6
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Contents
List of Illustrations / 7
Preface / 9
Acknowledgements / 11
Introduction: The Aesthetics of Human Environments / 13
Arnold Berleant and Allen Carlson
1. On Aesthetically Appreciating Human Environments / 47
Allen Carlson
2. Urban Richness and the Art of Building / 66
Pauline von Bonsdorff
3. Cultivating an Urban Aesthetic / 79
Arnold Berleant
4. Multi-sensoriness and the City / 92
Yrjö Sepänmaa
5. Walking the City / 100
David Macauley
6. The Last Stop of Desire: The Aesthetics of the Shopping
Center / 119
Mikita Brottman
7. Deconstructing Disney World / 139
Arnold Berleant
8. Cultivating Commonplaces: Sophisticated Vernacularism in
Japan / 150
Barbara Sandrisser
9. Everyday Surface Aesthetic Qualities: Neat, Messy, Clean,
Dirty / 163
Thomas Leddy
10. Living in Glass Houses: Domesticity, Interior Decoration, and
Environmental Aesthetics / 175
Kevin Melchionne
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11. The Aesthetics of Playtime Recycling / 190
Janet McCracken
12. The Role of Aesthetics in Civic Environmentalism / 203
Yuriko Saito
13. The Garden and the Red Barn: The Pervasive Pastoral and Its
Environmental Consequences / 219
Sally Schauman
14. On Appreciating Agricultural Landscapes / 234
Allen Carlson
15. Gardens, Nature, Pleasure / 252
Stephanie Ross
16. The View from the Road and the Picturesque / 272
Malcolm Andrews
Notes on Contributors / 291
Sources / 295
Index / 297
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List of Illustrations
Figure 1. The road-sign for the town of Marvejols / 273
Figure 2. Patrick Zachmann, Motorways, France, 1982(Magnum,
1982) / 280
Figure 3. The road-sign for the bataille de Crécy / 281
Figure 4. The hiker in the villages de l’Aubracsign / 283
Figure 5. The Aubrac landscape iconized as cow and barn / 285
Figure 6. Bourbon country and the famous Charolais cattle / 286
Figure 7. The road-sign picture of the ancient hill town of Saint-Flour / 287
Figure 8. The café room’s window-framed view at Sévérac-le-Château / 288
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Preface
As we observe in the introduction to this volume, the contemporary treatment of
the aesthetics of human environments is of relatively recent origin. Its current
flowering has followed to some extent in the wake of a renewed interest in the aes-
thetics of natural environments, which developed in the last quarter of the twenti-
eth century. Prior to that time the subject was almost nonexistent in twentieth-cen-
tury philosophical aesthetics. We survey these developments in the introduction to
the companion collection to this volume, The Aesthetics of Natural Environments
(Broadview, 2004). In this collection we bring together a set of essays that present
some of the main ideas and themes concerning the aesthetics of human environ-
ments. Together they give what we believe is a reasonably clear and accurate pic-
ture of the present state of discussion in the field.
Nonetheless, limitations of space have kept us from including all those who
have made important contributions to this new area of research. We attempt to
remedy this situation, at least in part, by discussing the views of some of these
individuals in the introduction to the volume. Likewise, we have not been able to
include within the main body of the volume all of the themes that are pursued in
the contemporary discussion of the aesthetics of human environments. Again, as
in the case of individual contributors, we mention many of these themes in the
introduction.
The introduction also provides an extensive set of notes that offers additional
information on issues and individuals. These notes cite much of the important
research in the field and are designed to allow the reader to follow up both the
ongoing thought of individual contributors and the continuing investigation of par-
ticular themes. We have opted for this method of citing significant primary and
secondary sources, since we think it more informative and useful than a standard
bibliography.
We hope that the introduction and especially the collection of essays itself will
provide a fruitful entry into what we believe is an important and rewarding area of
philosophical research.
Arnold Berleant Allen Carlson
Castine, Maine Edmonton, Alberta
USA Canada
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