Contemporary Landscapes of Contemplation

Contemporary Landscapes of Contemplation

Author: Rebecca Krinke

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 9780415700696

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A collection of essays by some of the most prominent scholars and designers in the field of contemplative landscape design, examining the principles involved in the creation of contemplative spaces, particularly in the West.


Neuroscience for Designing Green Spaces

Neuroscience for Designing Green Spaces

Author: Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-05-30

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1000876888

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Urban parks and gardens are where people go to reconnect with nature and destress. But do they all provide the same benefits or are some better than others? What specific attributes set some green spaces apart? Can we objectively measure their impact on mental health and well-being? If so, how do we use this evidence to guide the design of mentally healthy cities? The Contemplative Landscape Model unveils the path to answer these questions. Rooted in landscape architecture and neuroscience, this innovative concept is described for the first time in an extended format, offering a deep dive into contemplative design and the science behind it. In the face of the global mental health crisis, and increasing disconnection from nature, design strategies for creating healthier urban environments are what our cities so sorely need. This book delves into the neuroscience behind contemplative landscapes, their key spatial characteristics, and practical applications of the Contemplative Landscape Model through case studies from around the world. Landscape architects, urban planners, students, land managers, and anyone interested in unlocking the healing power of landscapes will find inspiration here.


The Need for a Cultural Landscape Theory

The Need for a Cultural Landscape Theory

Author: Alexandru Calcatinge

Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 3643902956

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The research in this book was born from an intellectual curiosity regarding the concept of 'cultural landscape.' The study resulted from a desire to clarify and expand the understanding of the term, as the starting point was the idea that a good practice is always based on a well-built theory. Thus, the purpose is to establish the importance of theoretical knowledge of the concept of 'cultural landscape.' (Series: Urban and Spatial Planning / Stadt- und Raumplanung - Vol. 12)


The Making of Place

The Making of Place

Author: John Dixon Hunt

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2015-11-15

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 1780235666

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Gardening is rich in tradition, and many gardens are explicitly designed to refer to or honor the past. But garden design is also rich in innovation, and in The Making of Place John Dixon Hunt explores the wide varieties of approaches, aesthetics, and achievements in garden design throughout the world today. The gardens Hunt explores offer surprising new ideas about how we can carve out a space for respite in nature. Taking readers to gardens public and private, busy and hidden away, to botanical gardens, small parks, university campuses, and vernacular gardens, Hunt showcases the differences between cultures and countries around the globe, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, and Australia. Richly illustrated, The Making of Place is sure to enchant and inspire even the most modest of home gardeners.


Melancholy and the Landscape

Melancholy and the Landscape

Author: Jacky Bowring

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-07-07

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1317366956

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Written as an advocacy of melancholy’s value as part of landscape experience, this book situates the concept within landscape’s aesthetic traditions, and reveals how it is a critical part of ethics and empathy. With a history that extends back to ancient times, melancholy has hovered at the edges of the appreciation of landscape, including the aesthetic exertions of the eighteenth-century. Implicated in the more formal categories of the Sublime and the Picturesque, melancholy captures the subtle condition of beautiful sadness. The book proposes a range of conditions which are conducive to melancholy, and presents examples from each, including: The Void, The Uncanny, Silence, Shadows and Darkness, Aura, Liminality, Fragments, Leavings, Submersion, Weathering and Patina.


Cultural Landscapes of India

Cultural Landscapes of India

Author: Amita Sinha

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2020-11-10

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0822987864

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Most people view cultural heritage sites as static places, frozen in time. In Cultural Landscapes in India, Amita Sinha subverts the idea of heritage as static and examines the ways that landscapes influence culture and that culture influences landscapes. The book centers around imagining, enacting, and reclaiming landscapes as subjects and settings of living cultural heritage. Drawing on case studies from different regions of India, Sinha offers new interpretations of links between land and culture using different ways of seeing—transcendental, romantic, and utilitarian. The idea of cultural landscape can be seen in ancient practices such as circumambulation and immersion in bodies of water that sustain engagement with natural elements. Pilgrim towns, medieval forts, religious sites, and contemporary memorial parks are sites of memory where myth and history converge. Engaging with these spaces allows us to reconstruct collective memory and reclaim not only historic landscapes, but ways of seeing, making, and remembering. Cultural Landscapes in India makes the case for reclaiming iconic landscapes and rethinking conventional approaches to conservation that take into consideration performative landscape as heritage.


Asian Heritage Management

Asian Heritage Management

Author: Kapila D. Silva

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 0415520541

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The prevalent global heritage discourse has been primarily Euro-centric in its origin, premise, and praxis. Diverse cultural, historical, and geographical contexts, such as that of Asia, call for more context-specific approaches to heritage management. This book explores this complexity of managing the cultural heritage in Asia. Case studies include sites of Angkor, Himeji Castle, Kathmandu Valley, Luang Prabang, Lumbini, and Malacca, and the book uses these to explore the religious worldviews, heritage policies, intangible heritage dimensions, traditional preservation practices, cultural tourism, and the notion of cultural landscape that are crucial in understanding the cultural heritage in Asia. It critiques the contemporary regulatory frameworks in operation and focuses on the issues of global impact on the local cultures in the region. The book goes on to emphasize the need for integrated heritage management approaches that encompass the plurality of heritage conservation concerns in Asian countries. Themes are discussed from the vantage point of heritage scholars and practitioners in the South, Southeast, and East Asia. This book thus presents a distinctive Asian perspective which is a valuable source for students and practitioners of heritage within and beyond the Asian context.


Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality

Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality

Author: Thomas Barrie

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-09

Total Pages: 578

ISBN-13: 1317179013

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Architecture has long been understood as a cultural discipline able to articulate the human condition and lift the human spirit, yet the spirituality of architecture is rarely directly addressed in academic scholarship. The seventeen chapters provide a diverse range of perspectives, grouped according to topical themes: Being in the World; Sacred, Secular, and the Contemporary Condition; Symbolic Engagements; Sacred Landscapes; and Spirituality and the Designed Environment. Even though the authors’ approach the subject from a range of disciplines and theoretical positions, all share interests in the need to rediscover, redefine, or reclaim the sacred in everyday experience, scholarly analysis, and design.


Kenosis Creativity Architecture

Kenosis Creativity Architecture

Author: Randall S. Lindstrom

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-03-21

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1000347729

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Kenosis Creativity Architecture locates and explores creativity’s grounding in the ancient concept of kenosis, the “emptying” that allows creativity to happen; that makes appearance possible. It concretises that grounding through architecture—a primal expression of human creativity—critically examining, for the first time, kenotic instantiations evidenced in four iconic, international projects; works by Kahn, Pei, Ando, and Libeskind. Then, in a final turn, the potentiality of architecture’s own emptying is probed. Architect and author Randall Lindstrom draws on Western and Eastern philosophy, including that of Heidegger, Levinas, Derrida, Vattimo, Nishida, and Nishitani, as well as on the theology of Christianity, Judaism, and aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Every chapter expands the argument that, if responsiveness to our world is taken seriously—if proper and sustainable responses are to be realised—then a deeper understanding of creativity, and so kenosis, is essential. This book opens-up a way of thinking about creativity and humanity’s readiness to be creative. It thereby presents a crucial enquiry—at the nexus of architecture, philosophy, and theology—for researchers, graduate and postgraduate students, and practitioners alike.


The Distraction Addiction

The Distraction Addiction

Author: Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2013-08-20

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 0316208256

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The question of our time: can we reclaim our lives in an age that feels busier and more distracting by the day? We've all found ourselves checking email at the dinner table, holding our breath while waiting for Outlook to load, or sitting hunched in front of a screen for an hour longer than we intended. Mobile devices and the web have invaded our lives, and this is a big idea book that addresses one of the biggest questions of our age: can we stay connected without diminishing our intelligence, attention spans, and ability to really live? Can we have it all? Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, a renowned Stanford technology guru, says yes. The Distraction Addiction is packed with fascinating studies, compelling research, and crucial takeaways. Whether it's breathing while Facebook refreshes, or finding creative ways to take a few hours away from the digital crush, this book is about the ways to tune in without tuning out.