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Philosophical Urbanism

Lineages in Mind-Environment Patterns

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  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Abraham Akkerman

    1. Department of Geography and Planning, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

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  • Constitutes foundational bridge between philosophy and urban geography/planning
  • Examines Walter Benjamin’s reflection upon modernity as mind-city interaction
  • Observes gender imprints in the built environment

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. Philosophical Urbanism of Walter Benjamin

    • Abraham Akkerman
    Pages 1-42

  3. Sky and Gender Myths in the Founding of Early Built Environments

    • Abraham Akkerman
    Pages 43-70

  4. Aristotelian Streetscapes in the Rise of Modernity

    • Abraham Akkerman
    Pages 71-113

  5. From Body Without Organs to City Without Streets

    • Abraham Akkerman
    Pages 115-147

  6. LIA and the  Iron Age Cold Epoch : Similitudes and Sequels

    • Abraham Akkerman
    Pages 149-185

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 187-193
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Keywords

About this book

This book expands on the thought of Walter Benjamin by exploring the notion of modern mind, pointing to the mutual and ongoing feedback between mind and city-form. Since the Neolithic Age, volumes and voids have been the founding constituents of built environments as projections of gender—as spatial allegories of the masculine and the feminine. While these allegories had been largely in balance throughout the early history of the city, increasingly during modernity, volume has overcome void in city-form. This volume investigates the pattern of Benjamin's thinking and extends it to the larger psycho-cultural and urban contexts of various time periods, pointing to environ/mental progression in the unfolding of modernity. 

Reviews

“Buildings design us as much as we them. If we trace the intimate relationships between building and self, we are in a better position to build more effectively for our fundamental needs. With an impressive array of historical examples and scholarly critique, Abraham Akkerman brings the idea of gender projection into the discussion. By tracing the human tendency to consider built environments in gendered forms—from early communal settlements through to the decay of place in the modern metropolis— Akkerman’s account is an insightful, inspiring, and invaluable resource.” (Lucy Huskinson, author of Architecture and the Mimetic Self: a psychoanalytic study of how buildings make and break our lives (2018))

“Philosophical Urbanismis an epic and dazzling journey into the psychical and material configurations of built environments ranging from Bronze-Age myths to twentieth century placelessness. Akkerman deftly navigates the writings of Walter Benjamin, Sigmund Freud, Simone deBeauvoir, and others to construct a compelling argument about how urbanism’s many processes are ridden with the trials of the loss of place, the temporal and spatial manifestations of gender, and the material support of voids and volumes.” (Paul T. Kingsbury, Professor of Geography and Associate Dean, Faculty of Environment, Simon Fraser University, Canada)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Geography and Planning, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

    Abraham Akkerman

About the author

Abraham Akkerman is Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

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