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acsaper's review
4.0
The physical experience of place is in inescapable phenomenon. Yes, the cognition of such experiences is often ignored, suppressed or mis-attributed. Hiss's book is an attempt to call our attention back to these sensational experiences, both for our individuals' sake and for the benefit of the public at large.
Examining the differential experiences of the city and countryside, the book culminates in advocating for a 'regional approach' to planning. An idea that is much more comprehensive than I am willing to digest in one sitting but enticing enough to warrant further exploration. Much of the idea revolves around creating public value and organizing development patterns in ways that create healthy natural, social, economic and political places that feed our underlying biological inclinations.
While planners and developers have much to gain (if they take the time to concern themselves with a scale beyond the myopic profit driven motive), Hiss offers the individual reader and equally refreshing experience. Exploring what he labels simultaneous perception, the author calls readers' attention to the everyday phenomenons that are all too often taken for granted. Posing, and answering questions such as why some places seem inviting and bustling while others are uncomfortable and go unused.
I have often tried to explain the experience of place and while Hiss doesn't do it entirely, the book reaffirms for me that these feelings are not simply of my own creation but may have deeper physiological explanations.
Examining the differential experiences of the city and countryside, the book culminates in advocating for a 'regional approach' to planning. An idea that is much more comprehensive than I am willing to digest in one sitting but enticing enough to warrant further exploration. Much of the idea revolves around creating public value and organizing development patterns in ways that create healthy natural, social, economic and political places that feed our underlying biological inclinations.
While planners and developers have much to gain (if they take the time to concern themselves with a scale beyond the myopic profit driven motive), Hiss offers the individual reader and equally refreshing experience. Exploring what he labels simultaneous perception, the author calls readers' attention to the everyday phenomenons that are all too often taken for granted. Posing, and answering questions such as why some places seem inviting and bustling while others are uncomfortable and go unused.
I have often tried to explain the experience of place and while Hiss doesn't do it entirely, the book reaffirms for me that these feelings are not simply of my own creation but may have deeper physiological explanations.
jochno's review
4.0
As a Brit who does not understand very much about the American planning system there was some very interesting albeit fairly outdated parts to this book which provided some interesting insight. A few sections did drag on a little but I thought the parts about German migrants hanging out in train stations and the last farm in New York were extremely insightful.
jeffs's review
4.0
This book is a collection of lesser-repeated anecdotes about the state of our cities, our countryside, and where those places meet. Hiss frequently cited examples of urban planning in the late 1980s. Phrases like ‘urban sprawl’ or ‘global warming’ seemed just out of reach, but you can see these ideas beginning to take on newfound importance. As a Pennsylvania resident, I found it especially fascinating to learn about the Market Street Marshalls (a business-group-led street-cleaning group) and a protest of a thousand Amish for a new ‘superhighway’ proposal that would have sliced through the Amish countryside. I dug into the NY Times archives and found neither the Marshalls nor the superhighway exists today.
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