With Man In Mind - (Mit Press) Annotated by Constance Perin (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Although a responsible and welcome critical literature in the social sciences has in recent years been measuring the human costs of urban renewal and environmental degradation, telling the designer what to avoid does not necessarily enlighten him about what to do. The designers too have been transforming their attitudes, moving away from the rhetorical toward the socially aware and the scientific. The two groups are readier to meet now than ever before, and if they do so in the ways put forth in this book - with man in mind - then we will be better able to bring our environmental technologies into human service. With Man In Mind is not, however a handbook or manual of techniques, ready-made; it is instead an argument for changing the terms of our discourse about man and environment so that we can do interdisciplinary research on questions that matter. With the questioning of the ideas in this book, collaboration may finally begin.

Review Quotes

This is an engaging and well-written book about an important subject: how concepts from behavioral sciences can bring a central concern for human behavior and development to environmental design.... The book is easily read and, therefore, accessible to practitioners and students who wish to inform themselves of ideas being developed in research on behavior and the environment. The author seems qualified for the task not only by an expertise as a behaviorist or designer, but by being more knowledgeable than most specialists about both fields. The book is amply annotated with references and source material.

About the Author

Constance Perin has been a fellow at the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs. She was managing editor of the Journal of the American Institute of Planners for five years and has worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Office of Metropolitan Development.