Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology

Volume 27 Number 2 Article 1

6-20-2016

Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology Vol. 27, No. 2

Kansas State University. Architecture Department

Follow this and additional works at: https://newprairiepress.org/eap

Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer/Fall 2016 (includes “citations received,” a book review of Peter L. Laurence’s Becoming Jane Jacobs, and essays by Tarek Wagih, Paul Krafel, Stephen Wood, and John Cameron)

Recommended Citation Kansas State University. Architecture Department (2016) "Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology Vol. 27, No. 2," Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology: Vol. 27: No. 2.

This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology, Vol. 27 [2016], No. Environmental Architectural Phenomenology

Vol. 27 ▪ No. 2 ISSN 1083–9194 Summer/Fall ▪ 2016

his EAP completes 27 years of in this essay, he considers generatively in Luckmann was one of the most signifi- publication and marks the first terms of six place processes. The first part cant figures in German post-war sociol- digital-only edition of a sum- of Wood’s account was published in the ogy and philosophy. Though best known mer/fall issue. winter/spring 2016 EAP. for The Social Construction of Reality TShorter entries in this EAP include “ci- In the last essay this issue, environmen- (1966 and co-authored with another of tations received” and a brief obituary of tal educator John Cameron writes an Schütz’s former students, sociologist Pe- German sociologist Thomas Luckmann eleventh “Letter from Far South,” which ter L. Berger), Luckmann is perhaps (see next column). Longer entries begin focuses on the question of how one’s re- most significant to phenomenology be- with EAP editor David Seamon’s review lationship with place shifts over time. He cause he completed Schütz’s Structures of architectural historian Peter L. Lau- describes an intensifying experience and of the Lifeworld (2 volumes, 1973 and rence’s Becoming Jane Jacobs, the intri- understanding of place that he identifies 1983), which he finalized by filling out guing story of how her influential urban as “a deepening intersubjectivity and field Schütz’s unfinished notes. The sidebar on study, The Death and Life of Great Amer- of care.” p. 2 is a description of that work as pro- ican Cities (1961), came to be written. vided by the on-line version of the Stan- Egyptian architect and designer Tarek Thomas Luckmann ford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Wagih writes a critical commentary on the recent death of the controversial Iraqi- (1927-2016) Below: A photograph taken on May 3, born British architect Zaha Hadid. Sociologist Thomas Luckmann died on 2016, of Jane Jacobs’s ever-changing This EAP includes three essays, the May 10, 2016, at the age of 88. Born in New York City’s West Village block, the first by naturalist and educator Paul Kra- 1927 in Jesenice/Slowenia, he studied at site of her famous “sidewalk ballet.” Ja- fel, who draws on the experience of mov- the Universities of Vienna and Innsbruck cobs’s home, 555 Hudson Street, is the ing a boulder to point implicitly toward a and at New York City’s New School for dark red three-story building, left, imme- phenomenology of how smaller, order-in- Social Research, where he completed his diately next to the taller, six-story build- itiating possibilities can generate con- doctoral work in 1956 under the direction ing. At the end of the block, right, is the structive, larger-scale change—in this of phenomenological sociologist Alfred White Horse Tavern, one significant case, erosion repair and landscape resto- Schütz. In 1965, he accepted a professor- “third place” that Jacobs highlighted in ration. ship at the University of Frankfurt; in Death and Life. See the review of Peter L. Next, independent researcher Stephen 1970, he transferred to the University of Laurence’s recently published book on Wood continues his first-person phenom- Konstanz, where he was Professor of So- Jacobs, p. 6. Photo by Peter L. Laurence enology of moving to a new home, which, ciology until he retired in 1994. and used with permission.

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room.” So that these spaces are not mean- “Architects, Users, and the Social Sciences The social lifeworld ingful “in an inappropriate way, they use ba- in Postwar America” (A. Sachs); and “De- After a more general account of the life- nal materials, avoid order and regularity, signed-in Safety: Ergonomics in the Bath- world and its relation to the sciences, and are the architectural equivalent of ambi- room” (B. Penner). The sidebar, below, re- [Schütz and Luckmann’s Structures of ent noise.” Crompton examines several spe- produces a passage from Sachs’ discussion the Lifeworld] takes up its various strat- cific examples of multi-faith spaces and in- of first-generation environment-behavior ifications, such as provinces of mean- cludes a good number of plans and photo- research. ing, temporal and spatial zones of reach, graphs. and social structure. Schütz and Luck- Better understanding users mann then comment on the components Galen Cranz, 2016. Ethnogra- of one's stock of knowledge, including The concept of the "user" as it devel- learned and non-learned elements, rele- phy for Designers. New York: oped in the United States in the 1960s vances and types, and trace the build-up Routledge. and 1970s has left a rich legacy, not of such a stock. only the buildings designed based on The authors study the social condi- Author of The Chair: Rethinking Culture, this approach. Many of the methods de- tioning of one's subjective stock of Body, and Design (1998), this sociologist veloped with EBS [Environment-Be- knowledge and inquire about the social and design theorist aims to help “architec- havior Studies] scholars are still part of stock of knowledge of a group and dif- ture and design students learn to listen ac- architectural practice and are gaining ferent possible combinations of tively and deeply to clients and users. Lis- momentum in the early twenty-first knowledge distribution (generalized tening is profound and simple, useful to pro- century with the interest in “evidence- and specialized). They consider how fessionals and to all of us as people. This based design.” subjective knowledge becomes embod- book provides practical tips for applying This is despite the fact that the envi- ied in a social stock of knowledge and ethnography to architectural and other types ronmental design approach, like the all- how the latter influences the former. of design.” The book includes many case knowing expert before it, was eclipsed In addition, the authors pursue such studies by Cranz’s students at the University in architectural discourse by alternate issues as the structures of conscious- of California at Berkeley and helpful draw- conceptions of knowledge and society. ness and action, the choosing of pro- ings and other graphics. Phenomenological and critical theory, jects, rational action, and forms of so- popular in the 1980s and 1990s, for ex- cial action, whether such action be uni- Kenny Cupers, ed., 2013. Use ample, placed individuals, their herme- lateral or reciprocal, immediate or me- Matters: An Alternative History neutic processes, and their interpersonal diate. of Architecture. New York: interactions at the center and describe A final section analyzes the bounda- Routledge. society as an intricate web or a network rather than a system. In these formula- ries of experience, different degrees of transcendencies (from simply bringing The 15 chapters of this architectural histo- tions, the “users’ have almost no shared an object within reach to the experience rian’s edited collection work to demonstrate qualities at all, not even within a group, of death), and the mechanisms for that “interest in the elusive realm of the user and any general understanding of hu- crossing boundaries (e.g. symbols). was an essential part of architecture and de- man consciousness is impossible before http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schutz/ sign throughout the 20th century.” Some of “all ideological and communication the chapters invoke unfair, post-structural- ‘distortions’ are eliminated.” revisionist interpretations of behavioral and The environmental design approach Citations Received experiential approaches to design—e.g, the was also questioned from within. Even odd claims that Kevin Lynch and Christo- in the excitement of collaboration be- Andrew Crompton, 2013. The tween architects and social scientists, Architecture of Multi-faith pher Alexander “produced urban, architec- tural, and experiential spatial theories which scholars and practitioners worried that Spaces: God Leaves the Build- begged to be further rationalized by market their expectations and standards of ve- ing. Journal of Architecture, forces” or that “Norberg-Schulz’s theoreti- racity were fundamentally different. In vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 474–496. cal aspirations offer the opportunity to con- 1971, Russell Ellis, a sociologist at Berkeley, noted that it was easier to de- nect a commercial intent (a form of con- This architect examines “multi-faith sumer-focused avocational education) to a scribe what will prohibit unwanted be- rooms,” in which “people of all faiths, as phenomenological experience, using archi- havior than to anticipate how to encour- well as those of no faith… time-share a tecture as a medium).” age wanted behavior. space that takes on one of a set of sacred mo- More helpful are chapters that offer more This “negative” approach was instru- dalities….” Crompton argues that multi- balanced discussions of 20th-century efforts mental in producing knowledge about faith architecture typically involves “mun- in “architectural psychology”—e.g., “Ar- human behavior, but was restricting as dane spaces without an aura whose most chitectural Handbooks and the User Experi- a source of guidance for the creative de- characteristic form is an empty white ence” (P. Emmons and A. Mihalache); sign process. Ellis’s colleagues at

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Berkeley also worried that the environ- What’s in a name? Building, Louis Sullivan’s National Farm- mental design approach did not resolve ers’ Bank, and Louis Kahn’s Trenton Since the 1960s, several other names for the problem of professional knowledge Bath House: “Each building is described the field [of environmental psychology] but rather exacerbated it, as [Berkeley from the point of view of a major functional have been proposed. Among these are Architecture professor] Roger Mont- concept or idea of human use which then environment and behavior, ecopsychol- gomery stated: “The architects’ real spreads out and influences the spatial organ- ogy, and conservation psychology. In new people were not the users and the ization, built form, and structure. In doing fact, the very first conferences that fo- occupants, but all those who partici- so each building is presented as an exemplar cused on these topics in the mid-1960s pated in and provided the context for the that reaches beyond the pragmatic concerns used the name architectural psychology. construction process.” of a narrow program and demonstrates how Quickly, however, those involved real- These criticisms are valid concerns, functional concepts can inspire great design, ized that the field included questions and but they do not undermine the im- evoke archetypal human experience, and answers that went beyond buildings to portance of the 1960s conception of the help to understand how architecture embod- broader concerns with the environment user. Ultimately, the “real” user is nei- ies the deeper purposes and meanings of itself, and environmental psychology was ther the normative individual, the everyday life.” chosen as the most appropriate name. group-bound user, nor the phenomeno- This name covers the whole field, from logical subject, but an amalgam of them Tony Hadland and Hans-Er- fundamental psychological processes all. In times of professional crisis, when hard Lessing, 2014. Bicycle such as perception and cognition of the architects need to respond to new social built and natural environment to the use Design: An Illustrated History. norms, attention is temporarily focused of everyday space by people, the design Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. on one aspect over the others. These for- of physical settings of all kinds, under- mulations may seem narrow in retro- standing the impacts on people and by These historians provide “an authoritative spect, but it is through them that we gain people on natural resources both living and comprehensive account of the bicycle’s a better perspective of the “user,” and of and not, and the climate-related behav- technical and historical evolution, from the her corollary, the architect (A. Sachs, iors and attitudes. earliest velocipedes (invented to fill the “Architects, Users, and the Social Sci- I suppose you can call it what you want need for horseless transport during a short- ences in Postwar America,” pp. 83–84). to, but I believe that each of the other age of oats) to modern racing bikes, moun- names represent pieces of the whole…. [I tain bikes, and recumbents.” Robert Gifford, ed., 2016. Re- would argue] that we should use the in- search Methods for Environ- clusive name environmental psychology Nigel Hiscock, 2007. The Sym- mental Psychology. Oxford: for all who are interested, regardless of bol at Your Door: Number and Wiley/Blackwell. our personal research interests, partly be- Geometry in Religious Archi- cause it is the most accurate and inclusive This environmental psychologist’s edited umbrella term of all these topics, and tecture of the Greek and Latin collection includes 20 chapters that are said partly to avoid the field splintering into Middle Ages. Burlington, VT: to cover “the full spectrum of research even smaller factions, which likely Ashgate. methods” in environmental psychology and would be followed by oblivion (Robert related traditions like behavioral geography, Gifford, “Introduction,” pp. 7–8). This architectural theorist argues that “the environmental sociology, and environment- historical context of medieval religious ar- behavior research. Entries that EAP readers Stephen Grabow and Kent chitecture suggests that churchmen would may find useful include Reuven Sussman’s have had every reason to express number “Observational Methods”; Cheuk Fan Ng’s Spreckelmeyer, 2015. The Ar- and geometry in their architecture as part of “Behavioral Mapping and Tracking”; Da- chitecture of Use: Aesthetics a programme of intended Christian Platonist vid Canter’s “Revealing the Conceptual and Function in Architectural symbolism. It will be shown that, in some Systems of Places”; Daniel Montello’s Design. New York: Routledge. instances, there is evidence that they did, “Behavioral Methods for Spatial Cognition which in turn indicates that this would also Research”; Arthur Stamp’s “Simulating These architects offer ten examples of have been the practice in other cases for Designed Environments”; and David Sea- “buildings that embody the human experi- which no evidence has so far been found. mon and Harneet K. Gill’s “Qualitative ence at an extraordinary level” to demon- “Accordingly, the investigation will at- Approaches to Environment-Behavior Re- strate “the central importance of the role of tempt to suggest what symbolic intentions search.” In the sidebar, right, are Gifford’s function in architecture as a generative force could lie behind religious architecture and comments on his selection of “environmen- in determining built form.” Twentieth-cen- art, and how these could have been inter- tal psychology,” rather than some other tury, buildings that the authors consider in- preted by others, whether intended or not. In name, as the label for this broad, interdisci- clude Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium, so doing, care will be taken to ensure that plinary field of research and practice. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Larkin Office any possible meanings that are proposed can

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be supported by literary and documentary their constructional details, work which ricane Katrina. Drawing on case-study ex- evidence, and that the possible means of evidently depended on first receiving amples throughout, the authors outline “ten achieving them fall within the known com- the plan and a key dimension from the civic ecology principles,” examples of petence of the parties involved” (p. 8). architect. which include: (1) civic ecology practices This work is an important contribution to How the ground plan embodied the emerge from broken places; (2) these prac- the phenomenology and hermeneutics of sa- patron’s requirements is not known, but tices foster well-being; (3) these practices cred architecture and sacred space. it is likely to have been derived from provide opportunities for learning. Hiscock’s central argument is reproduced in some form of schema provided by the the sidebar, below and right. patron or commissioning body. It would Patricia M. Locke and Rachel have been a relatively simple matter for McCann, eds., 2016. Merleau- “A perceived natural order” it to have defined the size and architec- Ponty: Space, Place, Architec- To summarize, the number theory of tural from of the work, the layout and ture. Athens, Ohio: Ohio State Pythagoras and the geometry of Plato’s positioning of altars and chapels, the lo- Univ. Press. cosmology, which explained the princi- cation of the chancel in relation to the ples of a perceived universal order, nave, along with particular numbers of This collection’s 12 chapters, mostly by phi- were adapted by the early Church in the architectural elements…. losophers, “work to consider how we live form of Christian Platonism and taught The manner of achieving this would and creative as profoundly spatial beings.” in monastery schools through the pro- have been left to the builders under the In her introduction to the volume, co-editor gramme of liberal arts. The need of the supervision of the architect or master Patricia Locke explains that the general Church to teach these truths to its stu- builder according to their own prac- theme of the volume “is the experience and dents and to a populace that was largely tices. This suggests a two-stage process expression of space on multiple levels, ad- illiterate led to their transmission in involving a schematic design, incorpo- dressing questions central to the work of school treatises and their portrayal in re- rating the patron’s programme in some philosophers, architectural theorists, and ligious architecture and art. form or other, as exemplified possibly readers in a range of creative fields. Contri- The evidence of popular culture indi- by the Plan of St Gall and Villard’s Cis- butions include Edward Casey’s “Finding cates that some of the rudiments of this tercian plan; and the constructional de- Architectural Edge in the Wake of Merleau- teaching were understood by ordinary sign, which was the builders’ work in Ponty”; David Morris’s “Spatiality, Tem- laypeople, presumably including ma- raising it according to current practice. porality, and Architecture as a Place of sons and other artisans involved in the Thus, the schema might ensure the Memory”; and Rachel McCann’s building process, who were able to transmission of tradition, authority, and “Through the Looking Glass: The Spatial make simple religious associations with the unchanging truths of the universal Experience of Merleau-Ponty’s Meta- the meaning of numbers and, to some scheme, whilst the constructional de- phors.” See Casey’s discussion of Merleau- extent, the figures of geometry. sign would be progressive, following Ponty’s “flesh” in the sidebar, below. It is clear that architects early in the current practice in building, and current Greek Middle Ages would have been style in the fashioning of details…. Architecture and “flesh of able to receive and implement a pa- Whilst the form might remain con- tron’s brief, sometimes by way of a stant, along with such meaning as em- the world” drawing or a plan, whilst early in the bodied in the form, each [church] was What does flesh and especially the flesh Latin Middle Ages, some reforming ab- nevertheless built in the style of its day, of the world have to do with architec- bots and bishops were regarded as ar- whether Byzantine, Carolingian, Rom- ture…? [B]uilt places belong to the chitects of their own building projects anesque, or Gothic… (pp. 48–49). world’s flesh, despite their origins in the and conveyed some form of architec- particularities of human design and tural programme to their builders. They their often highly contrived means of certainly had the means to do this in a Marianne E. Krasny and Keith construction. way that could include symbolic con- I would go further and say that archi- tent, and their builders likewise had the G. Tidball, 2015. Civic Ecology: tecture, far from being a merely artifi- means to implement it. Adaptation and Transfor- cial and conventional factor in human From the twelfth century onwards, ar- mation from the Ground Up. life, belongs intrinsically to the flesh of chitects in the West are depicted beside Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. the world and that, still more radically, their building work, taking instructions it inheres in human flesh—is insepara- from their patrons. Before graduating, These authors define civic ecology as the ble from it. To be human is to live flesh their apprenticeship had been shared in “transformation of broken places.” Exam- in such a way as to exist in a built envi- the lodge with masons who were trained ples of broken places include Detroit, New ronment, however minimal (a shelter, a in practical geometry and who com- York after 9/11, and New Orleans after Hur- tent) or elaborate (a skyscraper, a sta- monly used quadrature for devising dium).

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When not in such surroundings, hu- multi-centredness, re-embedding and sense, and it is likely to be our most im- man creatures miss them, need them, tele-technologies. It promotes shared portant sense in terms of our existence, and crave them—hence are always in experiences and an appreciation of di- survival and emotional lives (Juhani the process of seeking and setting up versity. It is increasingly how people Pallasmaa, p. 151). built structures of some sort. Whether everywhere connect with the world. It is made from rock or wood, steel or alu- also an increasingly urgent necessity for minum, such structures are not merely the politics of place beyond place. Daniel Paiva, 2015. Experienc- external but are lodged in the world’s The emergent world problems of the flesh—flesh of its flesh—and are part of present century—climate change, per- ing Virtual Places: Insights on our own flesh, too, thanks to their incor- sistent poverty in the shadows of exces- the Geographies of Sim Rac- poration into the daily lifeworlds ani- sive wealth, the loss of biodiversity, ing. Journal of Cultural Geog- mated by moving bodies (Edward Ca- ragged wars and terrorism, and epidem- raphy, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 145– sey, 86–87). ics of infectious diseases—all have 168. causes and effects on particular lives in particular places yet are spread-eagled This geographer examines “place experi- Jeff Malpas, ed., 2015. The In- around the globe. ence in virtual spaces, taking the sim racing telligence of Place: Topogra- It is a nice conceit to think that an virtual spaces as a case study and endeavor- open sense of place, regardless of phies and Poetics. London: ing to build a bridge between theory and em- whether it is explicitly recognized or pirics.” The study draws on participant ob- Bloomsbury. called that, might be a necessary condi- servation and 20 in-depth interviews to con- tion for mitigating such problems” (Ed- This edited collection includes 16 chapters sider “the virtual geographies of two sim ward Relph p. 200). racing videogames: Gran Turismo and rFac- (one of which is a poem) discussing the con- cept of place from a range of disciplinary tor.”

and conceptual perspectives. Contributors Aya Peri Bader, 2015. A Model include: Edward Casey (“Place and The secret power of Edge”); Joshua Meyrowitz (“Place and Its for Everyday Experience of the Mediated Re-Placements”); Juhani Pallas- architecture Built Environment: The Em- maa (“Place and Atmosphere”); Alberto Today’s urgent call for an ecologically bodied Perception of Architec- sustainable architecture also suggests a Pérez-Gómez (“Place and Architectural ture, The Journal of Architec- Space”); Edward Relph (“Place and Con- non-autonomous, fragile, collaborative, nection”); and Malpas (“Place and Singu- and intentionally atmospheric architec- ture, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 244–267.

larity”). See sidebars, below, for selections ture adapted to the precise conditions of topography, soil, climate, vegetation, as This architect and architectural theorist fo- from the chapters by Pallasmaa and Relph. cuses on a phenomenology of the “lived ex- well as to the cultural traditions of the region. The potentials of atmosphere, perience of the built environment.” She ar- “An open sense of place” weak gestalt, and adaptive fragility will gues that “there is insufficient compatibility Whatever occurs in a specific place is undoubtedly be explored in the near fu- between the prevalent professional under- always implicated in broader geograph- ture in the search for an architecture that standing of the perception of architecture, ical and ontological processes. To ig- will acknowledge the conditions and and how architecture is in fact perceived in nore this is to close the door and shut principles of the ecological reality as we everyday life.” Her aim is to “investigate the out the world… An open sense of place as of our own bio-historical nature. ‘inattentive experience’ of architecture” and connects to our origins and experiences I suggest that in the near future we “to clarify its structure and components, in particular places with the intelligence may well become more interested in at- their interrelationship with physical built that understands how these are effected mospheres than individually expressive environments, and their impact on the user- by and influence what goes on else- forms. Understanding atmospheres will perceiver.” One of her conclusions is that where in the world. mostly likely teach us about the secret “most of the impact architecture has on us- Of course, there is always the possi- power of architecture and how it can in- ers is not a result of focused attention on the bility that [place] can be distorted to fer- fluence entire societies, but at the same architecture object; rather, the object is ‘ab- ment the worst sorts of human traits, es- time, enable us to define our own indi- sorbed’ in a state of habitual indifference.” pecially when narrow-minded convic- vidual existential foothold. Our capac- tions are reinforced by participation in ity to grasp qualitative atmospheric en- virtual self-selected communities on the tities of complex environmental situa- Internet. tions, without a detailed recording and My view is that an open sense of pace evaluation of their parts and ingredi- is a concomitant of modern mobility, ents, could well be named our sixth

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Book Review A New System of Thought on the City

Peter L. Laurence, 2016. Becoming Jane Jacobs. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Reviewed by David Seamon

principles and structures that make the city routine, I show that Jacobs, who was any- what it is essentially. thing but a stereotypical 1950s housewife Jacobs (1916–2006) came to realize that and no more of an amateur than Mumford, the most central lived structure of the city was a professional writer [on cities and ur- is a small-scaled functional and physical di- ban development]... Neither accidental nor versity that generates and is generated by modest in ambition, a depth of experience what she called the “street ballet”—an exu- was the foundation of Jacobs’s desire to of- berance of place and sidewalk life founded fer a wholly new vision of cities, not some on the everyday comings and goings of shortsighted “remedies (pp. 6–7). many people carrying out their own ordi- nary needs, obligations, and activities. In In seven chapters, an introduction, and turn, Jacobs identified four key environ- conclusion, Laurence masterly demon- mental qualities that typically sustain street strates how Jacobs’s personal and profes- ballets: short blocks, sufficient density of sional life, partly via a good amount of ser- users, a range in building types, and pri- endipity, unfolded in such a way to set the mary uses—i.e., anchor functions like stage for Death and Life, which Laurence housing and workplaces. summarizes as “creating a foundation of In the last decade, a solid interdiscipli- knowledge about how the city works” and nary field of “Jacobsean” studies has devel- “rebuilding twentieth-century planning the- oped, and many books and edited collec- ory from ground up” (p. 270, p. 271). tions have been published, discussing Ja- cobs’s life and work [2]. One superb new Becoming an Urban Expert addition to these studies is architectural his- In chapter 1, “To the City,” Laurence re- torian Peter L. Laurence’s just-published counts Jacobs’s leaving her hometown of s we move more deeply into the Becoming Jane Jacobs, which provides a Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1934 and mov- 21st century, urban writer Jane careful, eye-opening reconstruction of the ing to New York City, which provided the Jacobs’s 1961 Death and Life of events, experiences, and influences in Ja- robust city experiences that would fuel her Great American Cities continues cob’s personal and professional life that led urban understanding in Death and Life. Ato grow in conceptual and practical signifi- to her writing Death and Life. Laurence ex- By late 1935, Jacobs had found success as cance. One can safely say that this book—a plains that he tells “the story of the ‘first a free-lance writer, publishing in Vogue the remarkably perceptive picture of how real- half’ of Jacobs’s career” to reveal “a previ- first of four essays on Manhattan’s working world cities work—is the great 20th-century ously underestimated intellect.” He contin- neighborhoods—its fur, leather, diamond, explication of urban experience and situa- ues: and flower districts. These four articles, tions, continuing to have profound theoreti- Laurence incisively demonstrates, book- cal and practical significance for urban pol- By shedding light on experiences that led to marked “the decades between the start of Ja- icy, planning, and design. Jacobs becoming one of the most important cobs’s writing career and her first book on In relation to environmental and architec- American writers on cities already before cities.” Laurence sees in these essays the tural phenomenology, Jacobs’s work is cen- Death and Life, I seek to dispel the stereo- kernel of awareness that would eventually tral because it can accurately be described as type that Jacobs was an amateur when it blossom into Death and Life: “Jacobs found a phenomenology of the city and the urban came to understanding cities and their rede- the spirit of New York and its hope for the lifeworld [1]. Methodologically, her major velopment. future in these working neighborhoods, aim was to allow citiness to reveal itself in In contrast to the dilettante whose “home where diverse city functions and people lent the course of everyday, taken-for-granted remedies,” as the great writer Louis Mum- each other ‘close-grained and lively sup- life and to use these firsthand discoveries as ford called them in anger, were limited to a port’” (p. 29). a starting point for identifying more general woman’s view of a local, domestic urban

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In chapter 2, “The Education of a and other users—what she sometimes called City Naturalist,” Laurence over- “pavement-pounding”: views Jacobs’s two years as a full- time general studies undergraduate [S]he saw better planning as the result of a at Columbia University, taking habit of thought that stemmed from a curi- courses that would have led to a ma- osity about the “living city.” Walking and jor in geography if she had finished good planning, she wrote, “are two sides of her degree (which she did not be- the same attitude, two sides of the pavement cause she had taken too many clas- pounder’s fascination, on an intimate level, ses as an extension student and had a with all details of city life and city relation- weak high-school record that pre- ships, of his consuming curiosity about the cluded her entrance into the formal way the city develops and changes, of his undergraduate program). endless preoccupation with the living city, In one of the economic geography and—at the bottom of it all—of his affection classes she took at Columbia, Jacobs for the city.” read Belgian historian Henri As compared to the Olympian planners, Pirenne’s 1925 Medieval Cities who studied statistics and traffic patterns Their Origins and the Revival of and “then waved their clearance wands,” Trade, which Laurence describes as the pavement pounders were those “who “one of the single most influential want to change and rebuild the city not out books on her thinking about cities” of fundamental disgust with it, but out of fas- because it helped her understand cination with it and love for it” (p. 182). how “cities grew and how they failed” (p. 53). that architecture must be imagined in the Creating a Seminal Work In chapter 3, “‘We Inaugurate Architec- ‘real world’” (p. 107). In chapter 7 and the conclusion (“A New tural Criticism’,” Laurence details how, af- In chapters 4–6 (“Advocating the City- System of Thought” and “A Vitae Activa ter working as a writer for the Office of War Planner Approach,” “‘Seeds of Self-Regen- and Contemplativa”), Laurence details Ja- Information and the State Department dur- eration’ for City Deserts,” and “Urban cobs’s experience in writing Death and Life ing World War II, Jacobs eventually became Sprawl, Urban Design, and Urban Re- and overviews critical reactions to the book. a journalist and editor at Architectural Fo- newal”), Laurence overviews Jacobs’s writ- He begins with a discussion of Jacobs’s ar- rum, a Time, Incorporated, magazine. In the ings, projects, public presentations, and ticle, “Downtown Is for People,” her first six-and-a-half years that she worked there community efforts that marked her time comprehensive critique of urban redevelop- (June, 1952 to October, 1958), Jacobs with Forum, and how these various experi- ment and suggestions for constructive alter- “learned to be an architectural and urban de- ences set the stage for Death and Life, which natives. sign critic” (p. 93). she began writing in 1958 but did not finish Against the wishes of Haskell, who Under the direction of Douglas Haskell, until early 1961. wanted the article for Forum, “Downtown” the able but demanding editor of Forum, she Although originally an advocate for mod- appeared in the April, 1958 issue of Fo- rapidly became, “with Haskell’s support, its ernist design, Jacobs over time pinpointed rum’s sister magazine, Fortune, and shortly expert on urban development and, according major problems with the standard function- after was republished in the best-selling The to him, its best writer on the subject…. alist-modernist approach to architecture and Exploding Metropolis (1958), edited by ur- Building on Forum’s editorial agenda for ar- planning. For example, in evaluating one ban writer and researcher William Whyte, chitectural and urban criticism, Jacobs such design for elderly housing, “she criti- who would later write The Social Life of turned critiques about architectural func- cized the architect for knowing nothing Small Urban Spaces (1980), another semi- tionalism into a new conception of the func- about the ‘people it will house, how long nal work on the city. “Downtown Is for Peo- tional city” (p. 94). they are apt to live there (he never heard an- ple” synthesized Jacobs’s growing under- Much more interested in practical, work- ybody bring that up), whether they bring or standing of how real cities worked and laid ing design solutions than in utopian visions would like to bring anything with them, etc. out, in preliminary form, topics and themes like Le Corbusier’s much-lauded “towers in They are numbers, one to a bed, it is a bar- much more thoroughly developed in Death the park,” Haskell and Jacobs both empha- racks’. Her remarks anticipated the criti- and Life. Foreshadowing one of its central sized “a building’s participation in larger cisms she would later make of public hous- arguments, she wrote: contexts: with its users, with the city, with ing projects then on the architects’ drawing the ‘world’ that they contributed to building boards” (p. 122). [A] sense of place is built up in the end, from through their writing” (p. 98). More and Eventually, Jacobs came to see that a many little things…, some so small people more doubtful about the dominant aesthetic much more accurate and practical approach take them for granted, and yet the lack of claim that the city should be a work of art, to architecture, planning, and urban design them takes the flavor out of the city: irregu- Haskell and Jacobs “came to share a belief was direct observation and understanding of larities in level, so often bulldozed away; particular urban places and their residents different kinds of paving, signs and fireplugs

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ISSN: 1083-9194 7 Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology, Vol. 27 [2016], No.

and street lights, white marble stoops…. The a July, 23, 1959 letter to Chadbourne Gil- remarkable intricacy and liveliness of patric, associate director of the Rockefeller downtown can never be created by the ab- Foundation, she wrote: stract logic of a few men” (p. 240). In my book, I am not rehashing old material The professional and public attention on cities and city planning. I am working given this article played an important role in with new concepts about the city and its be- Jacobs’s receiving a series of research havior. Many of these concepts are quite grants from the Rockefeller Foundation that radically opposed to those accepted in or- would provide the time and financial sup- thodox and conventional planning theory. I port for her writing Death and Life. In her think I am proving the validity of these new book prospectus, she wrote that her aim concepts and giving evidence, from experi- would be to describe and explain the big ence in the city itself, which shows that the city’s “marvelously intricate, constantly ad- In her public presentation laying out this alternative to ignoring them is not the re- justing network of people and their activi- alternative, Jacobs explained that the major building of some improved type of city but, ties. This network makes all the unique and flaw of public housing was its “disregard of rather, the social, economic, and visual dis- constructive contributions of the great city the social structure of the city neighbor- integration of the city. I am trying to get the- possible; it also makes possible the social hoods, particularly poor neighborhoods. ory and practice of city planning and design controls that have to be effective for people, The projects are designed for a kind of so- started on a new and different track…. communities and enterprises within the big phisticated family individualism, which is My contribution is the organizing of these city if we are to maintain a high standard (or beyond the inner resources and the financial observations and ideas into workable sys- even a decent standard) of civilization” (p. resources of their tenants, and which is the tems of thought about the city, and in indi- 252). opposite of the highly communal and coop- cating the new aims and tactics which plan- Though Jacobs originally envisioned that erative society among families in the old ning must adopt to catalyze constructive and she could complete her book in “about nine slums” (p. 265). She wrote to landscape ar- genuinely urban city behavior” (pp. 274– months” (p. 252), the project quickly ex- chitect Grady Clay (March 3, 1959) that, via 75). panded in time and effort and would not be the East Harlem experience, finished until January, 1961, thus taking two Jacobs summarized her new system of years and four months to write, “three times I began to see that the most important thing thought on the city as “organized complex- longer than she had expected” (p. 277). in life in [that neighborhood] was relation- ity,” by which she referred to an intricate Laurence provides an in-depth explication ships of all kinds among people—that these place ensemble of environmental elements, of Jacobs’s writing process, including rea- relationships, many of them very casual, functions, and people intimately interacting sons for delay—originally overestimating were the means of keeping the peace, of as- in synergistic relationship (p. 303). In an the thoroughness of her understanding of the sistance in time of trouble, of squeezing earlier letter to Gilpatric (July 1, 1958), Ja- city, learning how to write a book, and some fun and joy out of the slum, of avenues cobs presented a particularly lucid picture of fighting urban renewal projects in Green- to opportunity and glimpses of different successful urban places: wich Village and East Harlem proposed by choices in life, and of any sort of political powerful New York City planner Robert participation. I saw that many people in east Within the seeming chaos and jumble of the Moses. Harlem were of true importance in their cir- city is a remarkable degree of order, in the Laurence emphasizes that Jacobs’s role in cles and had the dignity that comes of hav- form of relationships of all kinds that people trying to improve housing in East Harlem ing some influence and mastery, however have evoked and that are absolutely funda- was particularly important for her deepen- little, on their environment…. mental to city life—more fundamental and ing urban understanding. The neighborhood I began to get a glimmer of the idea that necessary than safety, to convenience, to so- design proposed by the New York City the workings of the city were based on mu- cial action, to economic opportunity, than Housing Authority would evict from the tual support among a great variety of things, anything conceived of in the image of the re- East Harlem neighborhood some 900 fami- and that this principle was totally missing built [modernist] city. lies, 60 stores, five churches and several fac- from the rebuilt city [of the modernist de- Where it works at all well, this network of tories and warehouses employing local resi- signers]” (p. 269–270). relationships is astonishingly intricate. It dents, all to be replaced by 21-story apart- requires a staggering diversity of activities ment towers. Jacobs became involved with and people, very intimately interlocked A “New System of Thought” (although often casually so), and able to an ad hoc group of architects and commu- For an urban phenomenology, perhaps what nity representatives to propose a neighbor- make constant adjustments to needs and cir- is most interesting about Laurence’s ac- cumstances; the physical form of the city hood alternative: a “mixed-use, mixed- count is Jacobs’s gradually consolidating building housing model” that would support has also to be full of variety and flexibility recognition that what her book could be is for people to accommodate it to their needs and invigorate East Harlem’s everyday “a new system of thought” for understand- neighborhood life. (p. 254). ing and thus strengthening cities (p. 274). In

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“parts of her inclusive vision of the Brandes Gratz’s The Battle for Gotham: city were quickly embraced by an New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses ideologically broad spectrum of and Jane Jacobs (Nation Books, 2010); Ste- readers” who ranged from progres- phen A. Goldsmith, Lynne Elizabeth, and sive and liberal, on one hand, to lib- Arlene Goldbard’s What We See: Advanc- ertarian and conservative, on the ing the Observations of Jane Jacobs (New other (p. 279). He also briefly relates Village Press, 2010); Sharon Zukin’s Naked the perspective of Death and Life to City: The Death and Life of Authentic Ur- some of her later writings, including ban Places (Oxford Univ. Press, 2010); The Economy of Cities (1969), Cities Christopher Klemek’s The Transatlantic and the Wealth of Nations (1984), Collapse of Urban Renewal Postwar Ur- and Systems of Survival (1992). banism from New York to Berlin (Univ. of Covering these links to her later Chicago Press, 2011); Max Page and Timo- work, however, is not one of Lau- thy Mennel’s Reconsidering Jane Jacobs Phenomenologically, what is so central rence’s major aims, and clearly that discus- (APA Planners Press, 2011); Sonia Hirt and about Jacobs’s understanding here is that the sion could be pursued further. Also missing Diane Zahm’s The Urban Wisdom of Jane parts of urban place only work together as a is an in-depth discussion of Death and Life’s Jacobs (Routledge, 2012); and Dirk Schu- whole when they facilitate and are facili- longer-term impact on urban thinking, plan- bert’s Contemporary Perspectives on Jane tated by an appropriate togetherness of peo- ning, and design, and in what positive and Jacobs (Ashgate, 2014). ple, activities, situations and environmental negative ways Jacobs’s ideas are regarded For a helpful collection of Jacobs’s less elements unfolding dynamically to foster academically and professionally today. known written work, including a sampling and be fostered by human attachment to a These criticisms are quibbles, however, of her letters and some of the Vogue articles, particular sense of urban place. What she since the great value of Laurence’s book is see M. Allen, ed., Ideas that Matter: The provides is a strikingly thorough and its thorough, year-by-year, writing-by-writ- Worlds of Jane Jacobs (Owen Sound, On- grounded description of urban being-in-the- ing account provided of Jacobs’s serendipi- tario: Ginger Press, 1997). world. tous progress toward creating the great ur- 3. On the parts-whole relationship under- One reason why completing Death and ban study of our time. As he writes, “The stood phenomenologically, see philosopher Life took so much longer than Jacobs had Death and Life of Great American Cities Henri Bortoft’s The Wholeness of Nature envisioned was that, only through the effort was not a book that Jacobs had planned at (Lindesfarne Press, 1996). of writing and rewriting, was she able to lo- the outset; she learned about cities by writ- cate clearly how citiness actually worked ing it. But she had been writing it for almost Image Captions and how various urban elements and pro- thirty years, since her first essays on the city p. 7: A drawing encapsulating the modernist cesses intermeshed to generate (and be gen- and through her work for Architectural Fo- rendition of the city that Jacobs eventually erated by) robust urban districts. rum” (p. 280). came to question; note the “sunken road for In an August 18, 1959 letter to friend Saul fast vehicular traffic” (from T. Adams et al., Alinsky, also writing a book, Jacobs agreed Notes The Building of the City, Regional Plan of with what he had earlier explained about his 1. David Seamon, “Jane Jacobs’s Death and New York and Its Environs, vol. 2 (Philadel- own writing problem: “I’ve got so damned Life of Great American Cities as a Phenom- phia: William F. Fell, 1931; reproduced in much to say and everything is so interrelated enology of Urban Place,” Journal of Space Lawrence, p. 17). with everything else” (p. 276). A few weeks Syntax, vol. 3 (fall 2012), pp.139–49; David p. 8: A photograph of East Harlem’s Ste- before, in a July 23, 1959 letter to Gilpatric, Seamon, “Lived Bodies, Place, and Phe- phen Foster Houses included in Jacobs’s she highlighted directly the difficulty of ac- nomenology,” Journal of Human Rights and June 1956 article, “The Missing Link in City curately locating and understanding the the Environment, vol. 4 (2013), pp. 143–66. Redevelopment.” She wrote: “New Housing complexity of parts and whole: “the logic of 2. These works include: Alice Alexiou developments like this one… take into ac- every part is a portion of the logic of the Sparberg’s Jane Jacobs, Urban Visionary count little beyond sanitary living space, whole, done in the light of the whole” (p. (Rutgers Univ. Press, 2006); Timothy Men- formal playgrounds, and sacrosanct laws” 274) [3]. nel, Jo Steffens, and Christopher Klemek’s (Architecture Forum, June 1956, p. 132; re- In the last chapter of his book, Laurence Block by Block: Jane Jacobs and the Future produced in Lawrence, p. 217). relates how, three weeks after Jacobs com- of New York (Princeton Architectural Press, p. 9: Jane Jacobs at her typewriter, ca. 1961, pleted Death and Life, the New York City 2007); Anthony Flint’s Wrestling with Mo- (Jane Jacobs papers; reproduced in Law- Planning commission released their plan to ses: How Jane Jacobs Took on New York’s rence, p. 304). include her West Village neighborhood in Master Builder and Transformed the Amer- urban renewal and how Jacobs became a ican City (Random House, 2009); Glena major player in opposing and eventually Lang and Marjory Wunsch’s Genius of David Seamon is the editor of Environ- stopping this threat. Laurence ends the Common Sense: Jane Jacobs and the Story mental and Architectural Phenomenol- chapter with a discussion of reactions to of The Death and Life of Great American ogy. Death and Life, emphasizing the point that Cities (David R. Godine, 2009); Roberta

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ISSN: 1083-9194 9 Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology, Vol. 27 [2016], No. Mourning Zaha Hadid Tarek Wagih

Wagih is an Egyptian architect and designer. He specializes in contemporary Islamic architecture infusing minimalism and tradi- tional themes. His writing explores the possibility of understanding and renewing traditional concepts in light of current world ar- chitecture. [email protected]. Text © 2016 Tarek Wagih.

aha Hadid is dead. The world’s true that many of the most pleasant houses angle derived from the given physical or- most famous and only female and many of the most aesthetically power- der of things. “starchitect” suddenly died at ful buildings are box-shaped. Through variations on the perpendicular, age 65 at the apex of her career. More accurately, however, it is the per- architects can produce endless buildings, ZDead is a leading figure who thought out- pendicular angle that is questioned when both prosaic and beautiful. The problem is side the box, defying all norms. Dead is the “box” is used unflatteringly. The perpen- not a limitation of the perpendicular, but an Iraqi-born British architect who decon- dicular angle has two significant features: acceptance of the natural order of things. structed the box, defying all norms. She first, it follows the force of gravity; second, The problem is abiding in a right set of was a genius with complete mastery of the it suggests, by its simple vertical division, rules. One can argue that even Hadid’s design tools via which she was able to im- a balance between what is present on either buildings incorporate perpendicular an- agine and build complex, out-of-the-ordi- side. There is no escape from the perpen- gles, but they struggle to defy the invisible nary structures. dicular because the ground on which we gravitational forces lurking within as struc- Is that enough? My answer is no. For the build is perpendicular to the force of grav- ture rises above the ground toward the sky architect, technical mastery and imagina- ity. This quality is unique to the ninety-de- in a more encompassing perpendicularity. tive strength are one thing, but the philos- gree angle, and even our human bodies Hadid had succeeded in taming–or at ophy that inspires and drives creative work stand perpendicular to the ground. In this least disguising—this perpendicular force, is something else. As much as Zaha way, the right angle is the angle of balance but for what purpose? For the titillating Hadid’s designs speak to her architectural and, existentially, the one angle binding purpose of producing new shapes, defying mastery, they also speak to her struggle earth and sky. It is the angle of the be- limits, and making unusual, challenging with the natural order of things. Her work tweenness of earth and sky—a “natural” spaces. But what is novelty? What is pro- expresses a belief in blind progress and gress? What is delight and the unruly technological advancement. Her work architecture her buildings provoke? projects the fashionable trend of “de- What if progress and innovation are a construction,” a mode of envisioning myth? The word often used for inno- much different from deconstruction as vation is “original,” which means “re- philosophy. lating to a certain origin.” “Original” One cannot be a deconstructionist intimates a return to some founda- philosopher who believes in progress tional realm lost over time. To refute because the very philosophy of decon- progress is to claim that all human struction calls progress into question. creation can ever do is to represent— To be progressive is to follow norms that is, to “re-present” this founda- and to have a telos grounded in some tional realm in continuously new better future. In contrast, deconstruc- ways via renewal. I suggest that re- tion defies norms, leaving one in a newal is the architect’s aim—not pro- conceptual abyss. From my perspec- gress and certainly not Hadid’s unset- tive, “deconstructivist” architecture is tling novelty. an unsacred blend of progress and re- Renewal recaptures the genuine jection propelled by a hectic search for presence sustaining authentic dwell- novelty. ing in and around a building. Design- Zaha Hadid’s work expresses a wild ing via renewal is impossible without novelty, coupled with a dismissal of understanding architectural tradition tradition and a dissonance with nature. and envisioning new designs accord- Consider her deconstruction of the ingly. This approach to architecture is box, which remains the predominant not historicism or naïve postmodern- form of most buildings. It is true that ism. It is not the act of mimicking old many box-shaped buildings are lack- buildings or replaying their architec- luster and even boring, but it is also

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DOI: 10 Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology, Vol. 27 [2016], No. Zaha Hadid was strong enough to realize projects that, for most architects, would be impossible. She fought for what she be- lieved in and serves as an inspiration, espe- cially for young female architects. At the same time, however, her actual buildings demonstrate a way of designing that mostly ignores the presence of architec- ture. Her designs undermine the authentic ways of building manifested in endless ways throughout human history. This way of building continues to be revealed via genuine renewal, provided we are not dis- tracted by design fads like deconstruction or the myths of progress and technological salvation. I have written this essay as a reaction to the Western architectural press’s exagger- ated, deceptive praise of Hadad’s work in tural vocabulary. The aim of an architec- to human happiness (as demonstrated by recent obituaries. Seduced by her bewitch- ture of renewal is not architectural edifice the current consumerist society too often ing, out-of-the-world buildings, these writ- but architectural presence. severing individuals from their deeper ers speak of her architecture as “extraordi- If architectural renewal has a temporal selves). As a means to an end, technology nary” and “soaring” when, too often, it is aspect, it also has relationship to place. is not to be celebrated for its own sake or rash, indulgent, and impractical (the un- Like any other human endeavor, architec- claimed as a signpost of progress. The Al- couth walls and violent angles of her Ger- ture is bound by time and space. We build hambra, the Barcelona Pavilion, Falling- man fire station were so vexing that the in particular locations that relate in some water—these buildings utilize relatively firemen moved out and the building be- way to particular traditions. We consider a modest technologies yet are some of most came an exhibition space!). Zaha Hadid building’s geographical context, including stunningly beautiful architecture ever ac- may be dead, but the awkward, inappropri- climate, landscape, elements of nature, and complished. Related to technology is na- ate, self-satisfied results of deconstructiv- appropriate building materials and con- ture, which should not be a background of ist design continue via the work of archi- struction methods. How, via renewal, are buildings but an encompassing “container” tects like Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind, these various environmental and architec- for all architectural work. Buildings should and Rem Koolhaas. May architecture tural dimensions to be integrated suitably, not simply coexist with nature but inter- someday return to the call of an authentic even harmoniously, with the place where penetrate the natural world, bringing na- architectural renewal the building is to be? ture inside buildings and bringing build- I would suggest that novelty is another ings outside into nature. A good building Images myth that parallels the myth of progress. incorporates the presence of nature. p. 10: Zaha Hadid, fire station, Vitra Some people are greatly drawn to the Nature also teaches about scale. By stud- Campus, Weil am Rhein, Germany, 1993; novel, even if it is kitsch, irrelevant, or ying how the natural world draws on a re- photograph by Peter Traub ; https://com- even aggressive. Often, today, novelty is markable range of environmental scales, mons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vit- described by the ambiguous label “cool.” we discover new forms and structural pos- raFireStation-pjt1.jpg The architect’s primary aim, however, is sibilities. Buildings can only harmonize p. 11: Zaha Hadid, Library and Learning not the new or the uncommon. For design- with nature if architects respect and adopt Center, Vienna University of Economics ers with strong imaginations and technical the specific environmental scale of which and Business, Vienna, Austria, 2013; pho- mastery, novel architecture is easy as their buildings are a part. A building that tograph by Peter Hass (note: rust-red build- Hadid’s oeuvre demonstrates. The more looks like a plant cell under the microscope ing complex on right is the university’s difficult, real kind of architecture relates to will most likely not blend well environ- Department 1 and Teaching Center, de- renewal, which in turn relates to what one mentally, if it looks like a building at all! signed by architect Laura Spinadel, 2013); believes. It is always easier to abandon Zaha Hadid claimed to be inspired by na- https://commons.wikimedia.org/ rules or rebel against them than to abide by ture but, in her jumbling inappropriate en- wiki/File:Campus _WU_LC_D1_TC_ those rules and, as a result, be truly inno- vironmental scales, she produced buildings DSC_1440w.jpg. vative. that might make sense as microscopic met- Another significant matter is technol- aphor but appear odd and disjointed at hu- ogy, which does not necessarily contribute man scale.

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ISSN: 1083-9194 11 Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology, Vol. 27 [2016], No. Moving a Boulder Paul Krafel

Krafel is a naturalist, educator, and founder of the Chrysalis Charter School, a teacher-led, science-and-nature school in Palo Cedro, California. He is author of Seeing Nature (Chelsea Green, 1998), which describes in much greater detail the style of landscape restoration that Krafel illustrates here. This account originally appeared in issue 84 of Krafel’s newsletter, Cairns. See his website at http://krafel.info/. For a digital subscription to the newsletter, contact Krafel at [email protected]. © 2016 Paul Krafel.

n old ranch road traverses which it had sunk. Then, with just my the upper regions of the hands, I rolled the boulder out of the California watershed in berm. which I live. The ruts of This process seems a metaphor for how Athis road capture the many streamlets smaller changes can accumulate into a of water coming downslope and larger change seemingly impossible at channel their flow toward the main the start. Each time I pass this boulder on watershed drainages. As I illustrated my “rain walks,” the memory of the in Seeing Nature (1998), I look for “play” of getting it to move inspires a places to lead this runoff away from smile. Just as important, the new channel the ruts and onto lower slopes where I have cut directs a significant amount of rainwater can slow down, spread, and water off the rutted road back onto the be absorbed into the earth. gentle slope below. I am amazed by how It is hard, however, to find these interven- that downward slope absorbs the stream of tion locations. The old ranch road was water now redirected away from the road shaped by a road grader that scraped rocks ruts. After a month of thirteen inches of rain, and dirt into a berm defining the road’s the water flowing through the channel downhill side. In the backbone of this berm spreads out and flows for only about twenty were large boulders that I could not move. I yards until it has all been absorbed into the found one likely spot where I might be able earth. The ground was thirsty! to open a narrow channel between two of Before I cut the channel, the water moved these boulders but, unfortunately, I was not as one large flow along the old ranch road’s strong enough to move them alone. ruts to the main drainage and probably A few days later, I returned with a crow- reached the Sacramento River within an bar, expecting that I would easily be able to hour. Now, because my intervention breaks pry one of the boulders out of place. But I it into smaller flows, the water settles in, ab- couldn’t. The boulders’ centers of gravity sorbed by the ground, a mile upslope of the were down too deep; I could lift one of the river. Ever since this old dirt road was boulders only an inch. No matter what angle graded decades ago, this downslope area has or position I tried, the crowbar could lift the been deprived of the small flows of runoff boulder no farther. I did not expect this sit- that the road ruts have shunted away. Be- uation and felt stymied. cause of my simple intervention, this Eventually, I realized the problem. I was downslope area receives runoff once again. trying to move the boulder with only one I see this kind of “play” with micro-to- pry. I gathered small stones. I pried up the pography as creating possibilities. Runoff boulder and slipped one stone under. Now that previously contributed exponentially to the boulder was unable to return to its origi- erosion, carrying soil particles to a lower- nal position, and I could slide the crowbar energy state, is now able to rise up through underneath a bit farther. I lifted the boulder the plants back into the sky to fall again. On again, sliding another stone under its other its upward way, this water fuels photosyn- side. I could slide the crowbar even farther thesis that generates more plant surfaces, al- in and lift the boulder a bit higher. lowing the larger landscape to absorb more I continued this action, moving around the solar energy into the biosphere so that even boulder, prying from different angles and more possibilities arise. I am curious to see slipping stones beneath until the boulder’s what over time will emerge in response to center of gravity was above the mire into my “play.”

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DOI: 12 Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology, Vol. 27 [2016], No. Moving and Ongoing Place Processes Stephen Wood

Wood is an independent researcher in phenomenology and the environment. He studied systematic zoology at the University of Cambridge and has held an honorary fellowship in the Theoretical Physics Research Unit at Birbeck College, London. Wood and his wife recently purchased their first house, and this essay continues Wood’s efforts to explicate a “first-person phenomenology of moving and making a new home.” Wood’s earlier essay on the topic was published in the spring 2016 issue of EAP. [email protected]. © 2016 Stephen Wood.

n an earlier essay, I introduced a first- was our inexperience in gardening and cold hand, I developed some relations con- person phenomenology of moving to a February winds. Our sense of place suffered sciously—for example, I reminded myself new house in Avignon, France (Wood and our hope of “fitting in” was not as strong that we had installed deep drawers for our 2016). I emphasized the lived signifi- as when we first occupied the house. saucepans so I should look for them there Icance of embodied emplacement in a new We are proud of our efforts at renovating when cooking. On the other hand, other environment’s becoming a home. the kitchen but remain uncertain as to how kitchen relations unfolded with minimal The present essay is a complement to that we might adapt other rooms for our every- conscious attention—for example, a “natu- earlier work. My aim is to interpret the ex- day needs. For example, an awkward bed- ral ergonomy” of the space immediately perience of moving house as an ongoing room niche cannot accommodate our ward- supported particular habitual situations like process. Drawing on David Seamon’s ef- robe with the result that we are still unsure cutting vegetables next to the range because forts to describe place generatively (2012, as to how we dispose our clothes. The our glass cutting boards were on either side 2014), I describe the delicate balance of the ground-floor sitting room is pleasant in of the cooktop. In our former home, there six place processes he identifies—interac- warmer weather, but a lack of insulation had not been space for them there, but now tion, identity, realization, release creation, means that we mostly abandon the space in they could have their “natural” place. and intensification. I consider how these six winter. We still wonder if the room would One variation on these more habitual in- processes conflict or mutually reinforce one work better for dining. In short, this room is teractions with place was situations of “trial another in relation to my experience of mak- not yet fully part of us, and we are not yet and error” whereby practices we had taken ing a new home. able to appropriate it for its most suitable for granted in our former kitchen remained During the first six months in our new use. the same or shifted. Through a lifeworld house, my wife and I worked hard to create In some ways, the house works well but, testing of various interaction potentials in a home that spoke of us and was comforta- in other ways, less so. We feel pleasure and our new kitchen, we have adjusted to the ble and welcoming. We are a French-Eng- accomplishment but also disappointment new situation. One might say, with Merleau- lish couple and bought the house from an and uncertainty. In this essay, I seek to clar- Ponty (1962, pp. 138–39), that the kitchen English teacher, who had purchased it from ify some of the reasons why our experience has “become part of us.” another French-English couple. We realized of the new house has involved so many “ups The unfolding chain of interactions that the house has existed for many years be- and downs.” Specifically, I use Seamon’s whereby my wife and I familiarized our- fore us and incorporated a certain “English” six place processes as a framework to dis- selves with our new house contribute to our ambience that we have tried to respect. cuss our successes and difficulties. I con- growing attachment to place—what Sea- When we first viewed the house, a friend sider the six processes in pairs: interac- mon called place identification. Via this who accompanied us was struck by this am- tion/identity; creation/intensification; and process, there are forged affective links be- bience and told us that the house was for us. realization/release. I briefly describe each tween people and place. In simple actions He particularly liked the ivy-covered garage place process in relation to our “making a like cooking, watching television, fetching with its look of a potting shed from a lost home” experience, including responses things from garage storage, cycling to the country garden. Other visitors pointed to the from my wife, whom I asked a set of ques- train station, we and our new place become sash windows and to the house’s “cottagey” tions relating to each place process. experientially interwoven and inseparable. feel. Through these continuous interactions, we We can see how the house’s unique ambi- Place Interaction & Identity identify with our house and neighborhood, ence has guided our efforts for a certain Seamon defined place interaction as the which become a home. One notes how this “English” coziness—for example, covering everyday lived dynamics of a place, includ- this intensifying lived connectedness is the ground floor’s old-fashioned French til- ing all actions, events, and situations involv- pointed to in my wife’s responses to ques- ing with oak or selecting a kitchen wood- ing contact among people or between people tions I asked regarding place interaction and work that contrasted with black hob and and material aspects of the place. One ex- identity as follows. sink and hinted at a traditional English ample is my getting used to our new kitchen, range. Unfortunately, we had to remove the in which I found myself trying out various garage ivy because it had not been cared for spatial and environmental relations. On one properly. Adding to that unfortunate event

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Place Interaction the therapeutic aspect interests me. Not ex- moments of insight, understanding, and actly my house—just put there by mistake. pleasure. Describe a day in the life of this house. What Takes me time to feel at home, about a year. are the interactions that take place, the reg- Proud to clean the house. Buying things— ular routines? How have these changed Place Realization for example, chairs, garden furniture—has since moving in? Have they stabilized or What is it about this house that we can’t been great. Don’t feel I’ve relaxed yet, de- not? change, that has resisted over time? Is this spite conscious efforts. quality strong? Does it need cultivating? Is Shutters to be opened every morning. Shut- there something you could point to that ex- ters are very important, they protect the Place Realization & Release presses the palpable presence of this place? house, they block out lights, sunshine. Clos- Seamon defined place realization as the pro- ing them at night, feeling protected from in- cess whereby a physical environment gains Orientation: Traditionally built, south fac- truders or from intrusive eyes. a lived quality of ambience and character— ing, few windows on the north side, appro- Airing the bedroom and other rooms for a situation that is slowly unfolding for our priately sized garden with respect to the five minutes in the morning. Important to re- new house. One example is my shifting vi- house. Protects the house from the strong new the air. Putting the heating on in the sion of what the sitting room could be. mistral winds, creates a sheltered courtyard. morning, turning it off at night. When we purchased the house, the sitting- Should respect the intelligence of the origi- Taking the garbage bins out, taking them room walls were coated in rough-plaster re- nal design, not creating openings on the in. Picking up litter that has blown into the lief and painted orange. Because the room north side. garden. Going to the garage, to take the bike was dark, I envisioned its far end as a TV Two houses in one, two logics. High ceil- into town. Checking that the doors are area, with our sofa across the facing wall, ing, tall windows vs farmhouse, smaller locked. Routines have settled, taken shape. opposite the television. Helpful friends re- rooms. Maybe incorporated older buildings The study couldn’t be used before, but now plastered the walls and painted them a light that weren’t meant to be inhabited? The it can so its shutters are important. Opening rose with the result that light now floods the staircase in the middle has been added later. them signals starting the day. Windows are room and draws attention to the outside gar- Maybe it was a barn. Bathroom was for- the eyes of the house. den greenery. When the movers brought in merly a bedroom—hence it is large for a our sofa, they automatically placed it facing bathroom. Large shower, no bath. North Place Identity the window, an arrangement that immedi- wall is a corridor, so the bedroom doesn’t What makes you feel attracted to this house? ately felt right. In turn, our beautiful oak abut the north wall. There is insulating air With which aspects do you identify? Which sideboard-bookcase found its place behind between the north wall and the bedroom. aspects express who you are? Is this house the sofa and our piano at right angles to it. History: Where the hair salon is now there beginning to feel a part of you? If not, what We had considering making a music room was formerly a dairy called Le Bon Lait. The do you think is stopping the process? upstairs for the piano but ultimately decided shop has existed for a long time. Our occu- that it should be in the sitting room where I pation is part of a continuity. Fell in love with the gardens, especially the could play and entertain guests. Placing the Location: Within walking distance of the creepers. Sacrificed the overgrown ivy, feel piano against the wall across from the sit- town, proximity, don’t feel far from the city sad, too bare now, orphaned. Hopes of cre- ting-room door shaped an open space under- walls. 7–10 minutes on foot, 4 minutes by ating something else. lining the value we place on live music and bike. Feel the house belongs to the bank. Mort- its role in communal gathering. The unex- gage interferes with feeling at home. Bed- pected result was that the two main axes of Place Release room and clothes storage are still not work- the room came into being naturally—sofa to What are the happy accidents that have hap- ing and don’t quite feel right. Wish could or- window and piano to door. At least partly, pened in this house, unexpected pleasures, ganize them better. the sitting room realized itself! surprises? What has made you feel more Books put out—projection of me, my Seamon also identified place release, “you” in this place? past, my intellectual wanderings. No dining which relates to the environmental serendip- table. Two sitting rooms, one of which is ity that a robust place can evoke. Thanks to The cat that came in, even upstairs. We live hardly used. Arrangement not what I would the good disposition of space and window in in the cat’s house. Looking at the rose bush like—made me unhappy for a long time. our sitting room, the piano has found its from the kitchen. Working in the study, feel- Would like have the dining room next to the place. I have since played better than ever, ing free to launch my business project. Pi- kitchen. discovering new songs and understanding ano sounds good, has its place. Ivy, but now I feel safe. I feel I can study, work on my old ones with an unasked-for clarity. I also it’s gone. project. I come up to the highest room, to the greatly enjoy my new study that provides a tower. I can separate the daily chores from dedicated workspace contributing to an in- Place Creation & study, house projects. Looking forward to vigorated creativity of thought. In this sense, the garden in the spring. Want it to be a pro- the strength of place realization has encour- Intensification ject for both of us. Feel it would help me— aged place release, allowing us to move Place creation involves efforts whereby more deeply into ourselves via unexpected people intentionally intervene in some way to improve place, while place intensification

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refers to the active way that physical aspects years ago. Needed more work surface, more has cleared dead leaves and sown seeds for of place, being one way rather than another, light, not convenient. Modern look, more a Japanese meadow. can make that place better or worse. One work surface, more cupboards. Removing In the evening, we frequently sit in the house example is the movers’ placing a the overhead cupboards, removing the garden and watch the visiting birds. I ob- metal TV cabinet beneath the sitting-room claustrophobic feel, bringing in more light. served a blackbird singing from the top of a window. At first it seemed right there, Rationalized previous changes, improved tree next door and, for the first time, associ- though it wasn’t usable for the television be- the plumbing, brought it up to date. Light, ated this bird with its song. Three sparrows cause of its window location. Unfortunately, airy, enjoy the view of the garden. Hygienic, squabbled in a nearby tree before flying off the cabinet collected a bric-a-brac of ob- removed decking that covered an old septic to the neighbor’s garden. We laughed at the jects, and we never knew what to put in it. tank. No risk of cockroaches. uncanny ability of the finches to spot re- Eventually, I removed the cabinet and sub- Would like a wood stove—so far hasn’t cently planted patches and feast on freshly stituted, under the window, a set of oak worked. Possible solution to knock through sown seeds. shelves that complemented the oak side- beneath the staircase and put the stove there, The renewed charm of the garden has board-bookcase on the other side of the with the flue exiting on the north side, reus- been an unlooked-for gift. Our sense of los- room. The oak shelves made sense in the ing the placement of the original stove. ing the ivy has lifted. We feel able to relate room and made sense of the room. Friends and family insist on a conserva- to the garden and to develop skills to tend it. Both place creation and place intensifica- tory, to be able to benefit from the winter We are understanding the constraints of the tion are at work in this example. The mov- sun and be protected from the mistral wind. garden’s realization—the constraints of ers’ placing the metal cabinet beneath the But it would disrupt the balance of the gar- drainage, of soil depth, of sun and shade. window was an attempt at place creation but age, garden, and the house. Each takes up We have made our first garden pur- turned out to be a poor design decision be- one third of the plot. chases—a cherry tree, an eggplant, a camel- cause of ill-fitting parts that interfered with lia, local aromatics—and planted them as the room’s ambience. We had not been sen- Place Intensification our fancy takes us. We wait to see if the sitive to the spirit of the room and had “mis- earth confirms or opposes our creations. read” its needs and ours. What features of the house, as we have im- Thanks to the garden, life is good and we are Our second attempt at creating place was proved it, lead us and our guests to live and released into better versions of ourselves. replacing the metal cabinet with the oak enjoy the house better? shelves, which contributed to the room’s ambience and enlivened the place experi- Wooden floors downstairs create an inviting References ence. These shelves intensified place in a warmth. The contrast of off white tones in Merleau-Ponty, M., 1962. Phenomenology positive way, offering themselves as a the kitchen and living room—sable, rose— of Perception. NY: Humanities Press. means to improve the room’s convenience are restful, calming. Seamon, D. 2012. Place, Place Identity, and and beauty. Seeing our books—our personalities— Phenomenology, in H. Casakin and F. Ber- In this sense, place intensification is the displayed in the study invite discussions nardo, eds., The Role of Place Identity in test of place creation. If, on one hand, the with fellow book lovers. Table in the middle the Perception, Understanding, and De- environmental element undermines place, of the study, for special dinners, creates an sign of the Built Environment (pp. 1–25). then it can be judged as unhelpful rather impression London: Bentham Science. than creative, and the element is best re- Seamon, D. 2014. Place Attachment and thought and changed. If, on the other hand, Garden Coda Phenomenology, in L. C. Manzo & P. the environmental element strengthens Now in April, spring has come to our gar- Devine-Wright, eds., Place Attachment: place, it can be judged creative in that it in- den. Bulbs are producing flowers, buds, and Advances in Theory, Method and Applica- tegrates itself into place and contributes to small leaves are sprouting on the bushes. tions (pp. 11–22). NY: Routledge. its sustenance. The plum tree has blossomed and the wiste- Wood, S., 2016. Moving: Remaking a Life- ria was the first in the neighborhood to world. Environmental and Architectural Place Creation flower in beautiful watercolor shades of pur- Phenomenology, 27 (1), 14–17.

How have we actively improved the house? ple. The wild rose with its delicate pink

How have we made it more practical and flowers adorns the kitchen window. strengthened its charm and attractiveness? With warmer weather, we have been Are there any improvements or ideas for im- working in the garden. I have removed the provements that didn’t work and why? last remains of dead ivy from the garage wall. A new vine brings forth striking wine- Focused on two rooms. Kitchen was not red flowers, and a bushy peony has filled in practical, dark. Erased previous owners’ in- some of the space left by the removed ivy, put on the walls, what was fashionable 20 making the garage wall less bare. My wife

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ISSN: 1083-9194 15 Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology, Vol. 27 [2016], No. A Deepening Intersubjectivity Eleventh Letter from Far South John Cameron

Retired environmental educator John Cameron lives with his life partner Vicki King, on Bruny Island, just off the southeastern coast of Tasmania, the island state south of mainland Australia. His first ten “Letters from Far South” have appeared in EAP, winter and fall 2008; spring 2009; winter and fall 2010; spring 2011; winter and fall 2012; spring 2014; and fall 2015. jcameronblack- [email protected]. © 2016 John Cameron. Artistic works and photographs © 2016 Victoria King.

he stages of place-making result has been a beneficial messiness in are not always clearly de- both cases, richer biodiversity in the fined, but it seems that the fields and a more open and realistic rela- initial phase of establishing tionship with Vicki whereby we can ourselvesT at Blackstone and almost both acknowledge our hopes and fears.

exclusively committing ourselves to a In this sense, being more responsive to life of custodianship here has ended. the land has opened up more rewarding We have had a growing involvement opportunities for our life together. Out in activities on the island that has of our dismay over the grazier shooting taken us beyond our single focus of wallabies on our land came the reward- the early years. This sense of an end- ing project of providing sanctuary for ing prompts to me to ask: In what wildlife. Taking up what the place has ways has our relationship with Black- offered in physical terms—seaweed and stone changed over the eight years hay for the veggie bed, driftwood for that we have been here? Vicki’s sculptures, earth pigments for her paintings, old fencing materials for e moved to Bruny with reuse—has led to a far more satisfying high expectations that we relationship with the material world than W would be able to put into simply being consumers. Taking owner- practice what we had taught, with ship of the “sod hut” land has given us a high ideals about living a more sus- more meaningful sense of being custodi- tainable, low-impact lifestyle and ans. with high hopes for a quieter, more re- The more I opened myself to the sor- treat-like existence. I wrote in my di- row and past ill-treatment of the land ary in the first month after our arrival: and the Nuenone people, the more I felt “The place demands it of us, that we lead what needed to be done at Blackstone and the connection between our human frailty strong, clean, simple lives.” my sense of technical incompetence, the and the vulnerability of the place to climate Some of these aims have been met, but more I saw the land as a never-ending change. The deeper our affiliation with there have also been arduous challenges that source of problems and tasks rather than as Blackstone, the richer our creative lives to- we had not anticipated. Living more within a gathering of living entities with which to gether have been, with new avenues for vis- our ecological means has entailed a sober engage, and the less emotionally accessible ual and written expression opening up all assessment of our physical and psychologi- I was to Vicki. the time. cal limitations masked by our enthusiasm When I resisted seeing the weeds that for the project. The discipline that would were right in front of me and resented Vicki here have also been changes on the have been required for a contemplative re- for pointing them out, I blinded myself to land. Last winter was wet and mild, treat has instead been needed for sustained what the land had to show me. I finally ad- T the grass has grown phenomenally attention to mind, body, and place while mitted to her and to myself that I was in just and crowded out the thistles. I realized how working on the land each day. as much a mess emotionally as the land was thick the grass was when I was diverted Paying more attention to the workings of physically. I could see the parallel between from my close inspection of the fence by a my mind has made me more aware of habit- what happened in the paddocks when the sudden movement in front of me. A tiger ual patterns of thought and attitude that get suppression of sheep grazing was lifted and snake had been sunning itself on a branch in the way of deeper relationship with Vicki what happened to my mental state when the above the chest-high grass in a gully and with the more-than-human world. The structure of full-time employment and a through which I had been wading, and in its more I let myself become overwhelmed by semi-suburban lifestyle was removed. The

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efforts to escape from my approach, it slid not sentimental, and I could not have it both Transporting a territorial creature to another over the top of the grass. ways. Sometimes the forces in the land terrain was cruel and possibly fatal. Our de- It was an arresting sight, reminding me of could work together to support our endeav- cision not to trap was confirmed when it desert snakes traversing sand dunes in ors (see letter 6), but equally those forces emerged that quite a few people on South which there is as much sideways movement could combine to broach any weakness in Bruny were trapping possums and releasing as forward progress. After my pulse rate set- the system. them up north, probably passing on the road tled down again—tiger snakes are highly North Bruny drivers taking their trapped venomous although they seldom attack—I had other reasons for shaking my fist at possums south. Faced with the absurdity of examined the dense grass at ground level the possums. We noticed that our fruit this mass transport, we decided only to plant and could understand why the snake had Itrees were slow to come into leaf and those vegetables that the possum did not eat, made its getaway over the grass rather than our newly-planted vegetables were looking a plan that we are still fine-tuning. through it. The grass stalks were so coarse distinctly chewed. Then one morning I saw they were like a thicket of sticks. I would not pale grey fur where a possum had clearly got ortunately, we continue to have want to try to wriggle my way rapidly caught in the fence while climbing over it. wholly unproblematic sightings of through them. Nevertheless, I trod more Reluctantly, we concluded that the floppy FBlackstone fauna to keep up our spir- carefully thereafter. fence protecting our fruit and vegetables for its. After lunch one day, Vicki noticed an several years was no longer working. unusual congregation of cormorants on the t has been a mixed story with our Months of frustration ensued. I added an- shore, and we approached quietly for a planted trees. More than half have flour- other thickness of chicken wire. We raised closer look. Normally, we would see at most Iished in such a good season, but the rest the height of the fence. I put a metal con- three cormorants emerge from the water at are a painful sight up close. The eucalypts traption around one tree that the possums any one time, holding their wings out- have been savaged, the main stems snapped had been using as a launching pad to leap stretched to dry like ragged black laundry on off or dangling forlornly in half, red sap over the fence. I put a solar panel and elec- a crooked clothesline. This time Vicki oozing from the wounds. Aphids, ants, and trical wire around the veggie bed. All to no counted thirty birds sunning themselves on tiny beetles swarm over the gashes, feasting. avail. Every time our fruit trees put out a few a rock platform, sitting and lying about in a The leaves are covered in an amazing as- new leaves, they would be eaten back and very relaxed fashion. Among them were a sortment of caterpillars, beetles, spiders, and another slender branch would be broken. Pacific gull and “our” heron (see letter 1). leaf gall insects. I collected one four-inch Local friends nodded sympathetically. “It The sight brought a delighted smile to our long Eucalyptus ovata leaf that had fifty-one takes possums a couple of years, and then faces, suggesting an avian tableau that galls on it covering more than ninety percent they work out how to get in. You have to might be entitled, “After the Feast.” I sur- of the surface. Some of the trees did not trap them and relocate them. We all do.” It mised that the birds had entrapped a large have a single intact leaf left. was sorely tempting. The veggie bed had school of fish and all had gorged themselves It took me a while to piece the story to- been a source of great pleasure and one of to contentment. gether. The trees are now large enough for a our favorite things to do outside together. One morning I was resting on the steps of possum to climb up to reach the tender tips Yet possums are part of the wildlife, just the uppermost shed when a peregrine falcon but not strong enough to bear a possum’s as much inhabitants of Blackstone as we are. glided above my head, breezed over to the weight. Once a stem or branch big white peppermint gum on the crest of the broke, wallabies reached up and slope. He started chattering and kept it up as browsed on the leaves, opening the I worked my way down the fence line, put- wound further for sap-sucking in- ting in wooden stakes to keep the wires taut. sects. The moist and mild season The peregrine began calling “waak, waak, promoted insect growth, and once waak,” and I heard an answering “chuck- their natural defenses were weak- chuck” in the distant sky. Call and response ened, the trees were more vulnera- ensued: “Waak-chuckchuck,” “waak- ble to attack. The planted areas are chuckchuck.” Male and female falcons met by definition some distance away in midair, circled each other, and swooped from the native bushland where in- off westward. I felt exalted by this pair who sectivorous birds, the insects’ nat- inhabited the heavens so effortlessly. When ural predators, live [1]. I described the experience to Vicki, I asso- I felt a spurt of rage at the ciated it with the two of us meeting and in- “bloody possums”—it really did habiting this extraordinary place. look like wanton destruction of my six years of hard work. On reflec- n response to our deepening sense of af- tion, however, I realized that, like filiation with the birdlife here, Vicki’s all creatures, the possums were I studio practice has evolved further. Her merely looking for food. Nature is

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driftwood birds have always delightful sequence of a little been accompanied by occa- dark quoll exploring my Wel- sional human-like spirit fig- lington boot and falling inside. ures, but she has begun to fuse The images were circulated on them into what she calls her the Internet, and we had a “bird-women.” I have been stream of inquiries from people carrying a succession of who never knew that such a found-wood sculptures to the marvel as a polka-dotted mar- top shed because there is no supial cat existed. more room in her working stu- A family of pademelons dio. There are now several (Thylogale billiardierii), small dozen bird-women gathered rounded macropods that there, taller than I, and power- bounce about like rubber balls, ful presences neither simply took to grazing each evening on human nor avian but with the the luxurious grass below the qualities of both: spare, fo- water tank next to our house. cused, soaring yet grounded. An unlikely friendship devel- Among the paintings she oped between one of our resi- works on currently is a pair of dent quolls and a young pade- Masked Owls (Tyto novae- melon. One day I rounded the hollandiae castanops) that stop me in my martins (Hirundo nigricans) roost in in- corner to see the two of them leaping about tracks every time I pass them. Eerie, lit from creasing numbers in the rafters above the together near the front steps. The next week within, they are distinctly people, while re- veranda. The parents skim over our heads in we heard a strange skittering sound on the maining owls. I was struck the other day that the evening, bringing insects back to their veranda and looked out to see the pade- they and the bird-women make tangible the young. Woodland birds flock in increasing melon hopping about on the wooden deck- phrase “the more-than-human-world.” They numbers to our watering bowls, and a pair ing, with the quoll close by, presumably eloquently convey the realm where bounda- of magpies live in the large black pepper- having persuaded his friend to explore this ries between species blur, where birds have mint tree above the end of our road, war- new territory together. human-like qualities and vice versa, and bling melodiously. As they grew more comfortable on the people contain all the voices and images of Two young Eastern quolls, normally noc- deck, the pademelon began grazing on our the denizens of the earth they encounter. turnal animals, started coming up onto our straw welcome mat, and the quoll rubbed its deck while it was still light [2]. I discovered back against the leg of our wooden bench in here have also been changes in how the faint trail that one quoll took to the house a very feline manner. These interactions we relate to our “familiars,” the crea- through the grass and Xanthorrhea leaves, have a very different quality from our earlier Ttures that frequent the area immedi- and a small hole up from under the house wildlife encounters in the field—more do- ately around and underneath our house. Tree where the other lives. Vicki photographed a

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mestic and everyday, but still evoking won- and its wild inhabitants was spreading far- derment. We are not trying to tame the quoll ther and farther afield. Our speakers from or the pademelon, since they are wild crea- Birds Australia commented that it was the tures with their own will and agency. But best regional bird festival they had been to

we are delighted that they are including us Bay Hall, the main festival venue, and I had and urged us to make it a regular event. and our home in their habitat. It seems plenty of work to do on the festival organiz- somehow appropriate that, at a time when I ing committee. We had no idea how many n various ways over the last three years, am thinking more about human family and people would attend but, with the support of BIEN has promoted a discussion of cli- place relationships, some of our animal Birds Tasmania and Birds Australia, we Imate change on Bruny Island. I had con- companions are becoming more familiar spread the word widely [4]. ducted a survey of islanders’ attitudes to- with us. It was wonderful being part of a team of ward the effect of global warming on island islanders working together for a major envi- life. I wrote up the results in an article in the he greatest changes in recent years ronmental event, and the Festival was a Bruny News, the local newspaper. have been our growing participation great success. Severa hundred people from We generated enough interest to organize T in environmental activities involving Tasmania, mainland Australia, and even a follow-up workshop covering the likely the whole island. We helped organize overseas came to the opening, overwhelm- effects of rising air and sea temperatures on BIEN’s first Bruny Island Bird Festival, ing the caterers who had prepared a low-key island life. As one of the outcomes, a group which was by far the most ambitious event of us explored the possibility of installing barbecue. our little group had undertaken [3]. Bruny Vicki used her curatorial experience to as- solar hot-water heating on more houses on Island is home to ten of the twelve species semble a marvelous exhibition, juxtaposing the island to reduce electricity bills and car- of endemic Tasmanian birds, including the photographs of soaring eagles with intimate bon footprint. highly endangered Forty-spotted pardalote drawings of scrubwrens, funky mosaic After lengthy discussions with suppliers (Pardalotus quadragintus). Being an island sculptures of penguins, luminous oil paint- and installers, we presented our information with substantial areas of relatively intact na- ings of parrots, and a wealth of children’s and results to a gathering of forty islanders; tive vegetation, Bruny provides good bird- art. The exhibition generated a calm, cele- twenty attendees signed up for installation. watching opportunities. bratory space at the heart of the Festival that I was gratified to see new faces present and We wanted to celebrate the unique bird- manifested the spirit of Bruny, its inhabit- spoke with them at lunch afterward. life on Bruny, so a group of us under the Wary of the divisions that had been ants, and wildlife. leadership of Marg Graham, the Secretary When I was master of ceremonies for the caused by past environmental conflict on the and a mainstay of BIEN, put together a festival dinner several nights later, I looked island, they had avoided other BIEN events packed three-day program with birding out over the faces of islanders and visitors but had been attracted this time because of trips, local wildlife walks, talks by special- from afar surrounded by images of birds on the practical focus and sense of collective ists, a gala festival dinner, and bird-kite the walls and had a palpable sense that what effort. A few months later, we received an making for children. Vicki coordinated a had started very locally in the love of a place unexpected acknowledgement when a well- bird-themed art exhibition in the Adventure known conservative islander rose to his feet

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during a community meeting and pro- place that had many dimensions— posed a vote of thanks to BIEN for physical, spiritual, affective, and crea- their constructive efforts. tive. Soon after, we organized an evening This no longer feels like an adequate in conjunction with the Bruny Island description. It does not do justice to Film Society in which we showed a the depth and mysterious aspects of film about the Transition Towns these interwoven relationships. Our movement, a community-based re- resident heron has been a powerful if sponse to global warming and peak oil elusive figure in our lives ever since it that has spread worldwide in the past guided us to Blackstone. The fact that, seven years [5]. I had been sufficiently unlike many other creatures, it has interested in the combination of local shown no sign of letting us approach practical action, fostering resilience more closely is part of its power. and skill-building to attend the first There have been many numinous Transition training weekend held in occurrences and a strange alchemy Tasmania, where I found many ideas among the rocks, waters, plants, wild and group processes in common with creatures, and ourselves while we have Social Ecology. Subsequently, I vis- been on Bruny. Even the prosaic mat- ited the headquarters of the movement ter of aligning our efforts with Black- in Totnes in Devon, UK [6]. stone’s regenerative forces through observing growth and regrowth pat- fter the film, I outlined what I terns has given rise to the feeling that knew of the Transition move- the source of our own vitality is being A ment and my impressions of restored as well, and our mutual part- Totnes. Following, there was a lively nership is intertwined with partnership commentary on the differences be- with the land. tween the old English market towns where over the already visible effect of warming At the same time, however, recent events Transition was flourishing and a sparsely on Bruny environments and their non-hu- have shown that there is no room for senti- populated Tasmanian island. While there is man inhabitants. mentality in this venture. The combination a culture of self-reliance on Bruny and to Part of what I learnined on Blackstone, of seasonal factors, animal browsing, and some degree a rejection of consumerism, it however, was that human actions are best insect attacks led to setbacks in our project is difficult to function without a car on an undertaken in partnership with natural of restoring trees, just as our sense of well- island sixty kilometers long with very few forces, and a place will make it clear what being was sapped. on-island shops and services and no public needs to be done if one is quietly attentive transport. to it. It is inextricably part of daily life, ex- f “three-way relationship” is no longer a Many people were concerned about the tending well beyond questions of general good description, then what is? Reread- lack of a critical mass of concerned citizenry motivation. “It’s not just all about people,” I ing philosopher David Abram has given and a dedicated core group to generate pub- I muttered to myself. Would the evening’s me a way forward in my thinking. He notes lic events, coordinate working groups, and conversation have benefited from consider- that the founder of phenomenology, Ed- liaise with local council and community ation of such matters, even if I had known mund Husserl, thought of all interactions groups. On the other hand, BIEN was al- how to introduce them? between a person and the world that sur- ready undertaking some of these activities, rounds them as occurring between subjects. such as the solar hot-water project, the ow that we are entering a new phase In Abram’s words: “That tree bending in the workshop on global warming, informal dis- of our life on Bruny, involved in wind, the cloud drifting overhead: these are cussions with local council, and involve- Nmany more island-wide activities, I not merely subjective; they are intersubjec- ment in carpooling and food-buying cooper- carry with me the questions of what I have tive phenomena—phenomena experienced atives. At the end of the evening, we decided learned about place relations from our time by a multiplicity of sensing subjects” [7]. to “put our toe in the water” and indicate our on Blackstone so far and to what extent it This perspective is a radical interpretation interest in joining the Transition Network. has relevance for the work of BIEN on cli- of intersubjectivity, which usually refers to I left the meeting with mixed feelings. It mate change and broader environmental ad- shared meanings and consensus between had been a stimulating event, but I was trou- vocacy. There is also the question of how I people or the process of psychological en- bled by absence of any mention of non-hu- might communicate these various under- ergy moving between people. An intersub- man life. This dimension of the problem was standings meaningfully. jective space can occur within a group of of course implicit in the motivation for ac- When I began these essays, I understood people working intensely together in which tion on climate change. I knew that many of that Vicki and I were participating in an un- our colleagues in BIEN shared our concern folding three-way relationship with this

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individual identities and our lives here have become. The manifold personal boundaries may gifts of place continue to flow and grace our blur, and a sense of collec- lives. tively-held purpose and identity emerge. ur resident quolls are becoming Philosopher Val Plum- bolder. Last week on our veranda, wood takes the issue fur- O three of us from BIEN had a meet- ther. In her view, “earth ing with the local council environmental- others,” as she terms them, services manager. We were deep in discus- are not merely “sensing sion of invasive weed control when a fawn- subjects.” They have inten- colored quoll came around the corner, head tionality and communica- down, sniffing for anything edible until she tive powers but not neces- came within a foot of us and froze. She sarily human-like agency stood on hind paws, nose twitching, then and communication. scampered away. My visitors were astounded that a nor- hat does it mally nocturnal quoll would venture out in mean—agency the middle of the afternoon, unfazed by the Wand the capacity sound of our voices. Several evenings later, to undertake purposive ac- she reappeared when Vicki and I were sit- tion that is not necessarily ting out after dinner. Again, she came within human-like? This is re- a foot of the table and halted. We exchanged phrasing a question I have grappled with human and non-human, sentient and non- glances and remained motionless as she ever since the heron first “guided” us here. sentient. skittered closer and stood up, putting a paw There can be little doubt that, motivated by on my foot that was only clad in a light sock. her own curiosity, the wedge-tailed eagle his field of care is a more satisfying Contact! It was an edgy sort of contact, de- was investigating me, and I shifted from my description of what has transpired for light at feeling that touch of a wiry claw human-centeredness when I recognized that TVicki and me at Blackstone, which tinged with the knowledge that those razor- I was the object of a large wild creature’s seems not so much a collection of beings sharp teeth could make mincemeat of my gaze. and locations but, more so, a nexus of rela- toes. On a different scale, the Eastern quolls tionships in which we participate and are As the quoll stood up, Vicki noticed small clearly consider us to be worthy of interest continually changed. Much of the time we abdominal bumps. Our quoll definitely was now that they have become more accus- all go about our business as usual, but with a “she” and carrying young in her pouch. No tomed to us. They do not have human-like a subtly developing feeling of interconnect- wonder she was so hungry. Our more-than- agency; the power of the interaction comes edness. human family is growing. I cherish the fer- from their being Other, being non-human. During pivotal encounters, however, it tile intersubjective relationships we have They are approaching us of their own ac- becomes impossible to say where intentions, with this place, and I trust that they will con- cord, albeit clearly being pleased to partake actions, and identities of eagles, herons, tinue to sustain and challenge us as they of our oyster shells and lamb bones [8]. quolls, humans, wind, and waters begin and have done ever since we followed a heron in When Plumwood writes of the “etiquette end. It is the realm that Vicki evokes pow- a canoe on the waters of the d’Entrecasteaux of interspecies encounter” and the “offering erfully with her paintings and sculptures. I Channel. of relationship to earth others,” she offers a am now ready to relinquish the phrase fruitful way of thinking about relations be- “three-way relationship” in favor of a Notes tween species [9]. Leaving aside the vexing “deepening intersubjectivity and field of 1. This is ironic, bearing in mind that the question of whether certain species have care” between all who dwell on Blackstone, major purpose of planting these trees was to subjectivity as humans understand it, I think human and non-human alike. provide food and shelter for the endangered there can be an intersubjective space be- Has our life together been enriched, as insectivorous birds. Our experience high- tween people and non-human place inhabit- Plumwood suggests, by adopting such a lights the hazards of intervening in any eco- ants [10]. If two people are open to each “recognition stance” toward nature? Un- system, introduced or not. other and to the life around them, with mu- questionably so, and not only because we 2. The Eastern quoll, Dasyurus viver- tual attention and respect over time, bound- may not have stayed together if it were not rinus, is a polka-dotted cat-sized carnivo- aries blur; it sometimes becomes less clear for our immersion in the more-than-human rous marsupial that is common in parts of and less important which person or creature world on Bruny. The more we have opened Tasmania, including North Bruny Island but caused events to occur. A sense of some- ourselves to a reciprocal relationship with extinct in mainland Australia. There are two thing larger than any one being emerges, a herons, eagles, and the other inhabitants of color morphs; fawn with white spots, and, field of care encompassing all inhabitants, Blackstone, the richer and more meaningful

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less commonly, black with white spots. very different types of relationship with hu- of subjectivity, but this interpretation is con- 3. BIEN, the Bruny Island Environment mans, based on dependence, interdepend- tested. Surely, there is a spectrum of sub- Network, began a few years ago when a ence, control, working partnerships, or ex- jectivity within nature, just as there proba- group of islanders organized an island-wide ploitation. bly is a spectrum of consciousness. network for coordinating local environmen- 9. She is not the only prominent eco-phi- tal activities. I am currently Deputy Con- losopher to consider such matters. Freya Images by Vicki King venor of the Network. Mathews writes of “the revelatory effects on p.16: Tasmania Masked Owls, oil on wood 4. Australia's leading bird conservation individual consciousness of intersubjective panel, 2015. organization. contact with the world at large” (For Love p.17: “Birdwomen” I, 2015. 5. “Transition” refers to the phased tran- of Matter (Albany NY: SUNY Press, 2003), p.18: “Birdwomen” II, 2015. sition to a low-carbon economy via an En- p. 43. p.18: Photographic sequence, quoll and ergy Descent Action Plan negotiated with 10. Plumwood considers that they do, but boot. local governments and other stakeholders philosopher Jeff Malpas argues that they do p.19, upper left: Swift Parrots, endangered accompanied by efforts toward community not (J. Malpas, The Experience of Place, species; oil on wood panel, 2015. resilience. From its base in Totnes, the Cambridge Univ. Press, 1999, p. 96 and pp. p.19, center: Swift Parrots II, endangered Transition Network now includes several 138-56). There are cogent arguments on species; oil on wood panel, 2015. hundred initiatives in dozens of countries; both sides of this question, depending upon p.19, upper right: Grey Fantail, watercolor see www.transitionnetwork.org. what exactly is meant by “having subjectiv- and gouache on paper, 2015. 6. In fact, the weekend was facilitated by ity,” and either claim is difficult to demon- p.20: Crimson Robin, watercolor and gou- two Social Ecology graduates. strate or disprove definitively. Ravens, dol- ache on paper, 2015. 7. D. Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous phins, and many primates have demon- p.21: Superb Fair Wrens, oil on wood panel, (NY: Vintage, 1996), p. 38. strated behavior consistent with self-recog- 2015. 8. Unlike domestic animals, which have nition, which is often considered to be part

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Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology c/o Prof. David Seamon Architecture Department 211 Seaton Hall Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506-2901 USA

Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology

Published two times a year, EAP is a forum and clearing house for Editor research and design that incorporate a qualitative approach to Dr. David Seamon, environmental and architectural experience and meaning. Architecture Department One key concern of EAP is design, education, and policy sup- 211 Seaton Hall porting and enhancing natural and built environments that are Kansas State University beautiful, alive, and humane. Realizing that a clear conceptual Manhattan, KS 66506-2901 USA stance is integral to informed research and design, the editor Tel: 785-532-5953; [email protected] emphasizes phenomenological approaches but also gives EAP attention to related styles of qualitative research. welcomes Subscriptions & Back Issues essays, letters, reviews, conference information, and so forth. Beginning in 2016, EAP is digitally open-source only. Current and back Exemplary Themes digital issues of EAP are available at the following digital addresses: . The nature of environmental and architectural experience; https://ksu.academia.edu/DavidSeamon . Sense of place, including place identity and place attachment; http://newprairiepress.org/eap/ . Architectural and landscape meaning; www.arch.ksu.edu/seamon/EAP.html . The environmental, architectural, spatial, and material http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/handle/2097/1522 (archive copies) dimensions of lifeworlds;

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