Mind and Places. A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Design of Contemporary City

The book explores the contribution of psychological, neuroscientific and philosophical perspectives to the design of contemporary city. Through 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 neuro-scientific field open increasingly stimulating perspectives to the design of spaces and highlight how our ability to understand other people is strongly related to our corporeity. The first part brings the contribution of different disciplines that deal with the spatial dimension from a theoretical perspective, trying to deepen the complementary role that science and art can play in a transversal perspective. The second one proposes some reflections useful to promote an integration between the aesthetic and the cultural dimension in the space design. The book benefits scholars, academics and practitioners that are involved in the process of planning, designing and building places, and fosters an international exchange of research, case studies and theoretical reflections to confront the challenges of designing conscious places, gaining awareness of the unique creative process underlying the generation of dreams, works of art as well as most of human enterprises and enabling the development of communities.