Transformations of Urban and Suburban Landscapes

Gary Backhaus teaches at Morgan State University. John Murungi is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Towson University.

An extraordinarily rich collection of essays on the theme of place and space in contemporary landscapes, both natural and urban. At once diverse in subject matter and coherent in overall theme, this book tells us something essentially new about our current lives in the city and in suburbia—and beyond.

• Chapter 1 Introduction: LandingsChapter 2 On the Question of Land: A Philosophical PerspectiveChapter 3 Where the Beaver Gnaw: Predatory Space in the Urban LandscapeChapter 4 The Deceptive Environment: The Architecture of SecurityChapter 5 Getting Nowhere Fast? Intrinsic Worth, Utility, and a Sense of Place at the Century's TurnChapter 6 Auto-Mobility and the Route-Scape: A Critical PhenomenologyChapter 7 Having a Need To ActChapter 8 Municipal Parks in New York City: Olmstead, Riis, and the Transformation of the Urban Landscape, 1858-1897Chapter 9 Walking in the Urban Environment: Pedestrian Practices and Peripatetic PoliticsChapter 10 Valid Research in Human Geography and the Image of the Ideal Science