Customer Reviews

The Conscience of the Eye: The Design and Social Life of Cities

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Richard Sennett is an articulate writer whose style reveals a fascinating mind and above all, a keen pair of eyes. In relating our visual organ to the conscience, he implores us to start seeing our lives as wholly related to and organically integrated with, the cities that we live in. In this thoroughly original and important book, Sennett successfully avoids the tendency of many writers on urbanism to proffer 'well meaning' solutions, but instead takes us on a historical and psychological journey. He convinces his readers to focus on impulses and 'spriritual' reasons behind the creation of cities, ranging from the Greek ideals of 'grace' and 'balance' that produced the 'Agora' to the dilemmas of the modern soul that creates walls made of sheer glass. In chapter after chapter of engrossing reading anyone deeply interested in the well-being of urban life will begin to share his insights on urban forms. He articulates his views using descriptions of ordianry people's lives through history. His well researched narrative succeeds in relating their living conditions with their daily activities as being outward expressions of their inner being. Psychological and emotional states which then find direct expressions in the physical forms of the places in which their lives are enacted. For anyone working in architecture or urban planning, this book is a must-read. In the modern age we are conditioned to believing that a city is a product of functional processes. It is this commonly held apathy which is the very root cause of our modern urban alienation. To me, the message of Richard Sennett's book is a revelation. It is a matter of conscience to use our eyes to see the spirit of our own lives embedded in the walls and the streets that our fathers and mothers have made.

This is an interesting and easy read book. It is written by a major contributor in human geogrphy and addresses the role of space in society. This is a great book!!!

If you want to read Sennett's opinions on various artworks and art-forms and how he applies these to his social philosophy this is the book you (and apparently two others) have been waiting for.