[.ca] The Experience of Place: A New Way of Looking at and ... (ISBN 0679735941)

From Amazon.com:
Tony Hiss's lively book takes a considered look at a variety of landscapes, from New York's Central Park to the Great Plains, and points out why the design of some places gives us the creeps, while that of others liberates our senses. Hiss suggests how cities and suburbs can be shaped to keep (or rediscover) their connection to the natural landscape, and, more important, how--for once--our expansion into a place need not mean its destruction. There's much food for thought in The Experience of Place, and a dozen starting points for the reinhabitation our lands require.

from a New Yorkerýs point of view:
This book is an exploration about what makes a place look and feel right for human habitation. In the introduction, Hiss sets out some interesting goals. To justify his outlook, he states "the places where we spend our time affect the people we are and can become," and later adds "the relationship with the places we know...is a close bond...a continuum with all we are and think." It follows, then, that changes in our environment will affect ourselves as well, and that "overdevelopment and urban sprawl can damage our own lives as much as they damage our cities and countryside." Hiss goes on to argue that before changing a place, we need to make sure that the changes will nurture our growth as people, protect the natural environment, and develop jobs and homes for all. It's tough making the right decisions that will result in these sorts of positive changes, so Hiss advises that we need to learn to pay close attention to our surroundings, using all of our senses at once. If we don't do this, then bad changes in our environment will come to pass, and we will experience a sense of loss as places that are dear to us disappear. The introduction is an intriguing essay, but for me, the rest of the book didn't live up to the goals laid out by Hiss in the introduction. The main text is divided into two parts: "Experiencing Cities," and "Encountering the Countryside." The titles themselves of these sections make it clear that the book is told entirely from a city person's point of view, a person who experiences city life on a day-to-day basis, and only makes it out into the country for short encounters. But even more specifically, Hiss is not just a city person, but a New Yorker, and almost all of the examples that he uses to make his points are from New York City. This is fine for New Yorkers, but if you are not very familiar with New York neighborhoods and landmarks, his examples don't carry a strong resonance. To really make this book approachable by wider audiences, it would have been great for him to branch out to other cities like San Francisco, Minneapolis, or even Boston, which he may have visited once or twice. The adage goes "Write what you know," and Hiss apparently took this to heart. Topics covered in part one include: simultaneous perception, a sort of intuitive sixth sense that people use to feel their links to their surroundings (as when people find their way through a crowded rail terminal without bumping into others); connections, and how design elements can resonate with people or not; possibilities of planning, and tools for exploring the sensual impact of proposed changes; and picking up the pieces- -examining why certain urban spaces don't work well and what can be done to fix them. Part two includes: working landscapes, or an in-depth description of the importance of the last working farm in New York City; highways, and how they connect city people to the suburbs and vacation spots; next generation- -limiting development so that city people will still have working landscapes to look at and visit; creating public value, or the importance of green spaces for city dwellers; and thinking regionally, which discusses developing urban green spaces and protecting working landscapes by clustering suburban development. The book closes with a short bibliography and it includes an index. For me, some of the most interesting parts of the book were the short asides, bits of research that Hiss had worked into the text. For instance, I learned that researchers have found that parks should be within a 3 minute walk of residents, or they won't be used. Or, New York City restaurants don't serve water without a request because of habits learned during a 1965 drought. And I never dreamed that there was a working farm, zoned for agriculture in Queens. But I wanted so much more from this book than these factoids. Some of Hiss's ideas were quite interesting at the outset, but made no connections to me, since I have never been to New York City, nor do I have any interest in visiting it. The book had a lot of potential, as was clear in the introduction, but I wanted to learn more about humans' connection to natural places, wild landscapes and country villages, and not just those found on Long Island within 50 miles of the city. In his introduction, it sounded like Hiss meant to comment on the environment at large, rather than just the New York City environment. Perhaps a broader choice of examples (and even including some truly rural or even wild places) might have the points stick.

What a great title for a book...:
Too bad the title was wasted on this one. Don't bother reading this unless you want to read long, drawn-out exposition of efforts at preserving various farms and wilderness in the New England states and buildings and parks in NYC. The research was light, no real thesis put forth - some garble about "simultaneous perception" that's forgotten after the first chapters hardly counts. It's not that the writing is offensive, but it is a bit boring and provincial, and lacking in unity and focus.

Inspired me to pursue a career in planning and city admin.:
It was Mr. Hiss' book that first inspired me to pursue a career as a city planner/city administrator. I recently reread the book to refresh much of the enthusiasm for carefully crafting a sense of place that, too often, can be dulled by the grind of bureaucracy. The New York Times is only partially right in suggesting that this book is essential reading for city planners, developers and city administrators". It also should be reread, upon occassion, to provide continued inspiration for better planning and development. The book can be effectively supplemented by Howard Kunsteler's Geography of Nowhere and Home From Nowhere.

A refreshing look at real-estate development:
I was required to read this book as a part of a real-estate development/project management class, and was surprised and refreshed by the author's insights into public space and evironments. The book attempts to get at fundamental values of creating "a sense of place," and although decidedly a bit frou-frou and subjective at times, it offers tangible alternative avenues to our notions of land-use planning and real-estate development. Extremely easy-reading, and insightful.