Customer Reviews

Placemaking: Production of Built Environment in Two Cultures (Ethnoscapes)

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Placemaking is a meticulous and sensible book by David Stea and Mete

Turan that explores the process of development of early neolithic

dwellers of the Anasazi region of North America and of Anatolia, both

homes to extraordinary civilizations. The authors demonstrate how

these (once considered "primitive") settlers created and urbanized two

of the worlds most beautiful landscapes with functional architecture.

The parallels between these unique cultures are explored by the

book's authors through a profound historical study that provides a

unforgettable journey from cultural determinism to a reflective

dialogue deep into the dimensions of culture. However, the pages of

this book, besides carefully examining the socioeconomic structures of

the Classic Pueblo period and of the Anatolia fortified cities, also

hold an array of the authors own theories allowing the reader to

understand the authors' attempt to comprehend unique manifestations

of spatial organization. The wise dwellers of these two places were

full-fledged environmentalists . Here one is delightfully exposed to

extensive knowledge in harsh landscapes that reflects how they came

to manage the necessary agricultural balance at successive stages in

the constant struggle to establish their own unique civilizations.

Placemaking is a work of devotion and appreciation for the ancient

builders and an excellent reference book for future planners who seek

facts, examples and the forms of human settlements which truly reflect

the needs and aspirations of majestic past societies, generators of

culture and civic participation in touch with a dialogue between

nature and their communities. These places may once have been

perceived or described as "primitive", but their dwellers, creators

of forms and patterns for each structure that express an ever-

changing social order, remind us of the conflict between the growth

of bureaucracy and human dignity.

It's alright, I guess. But an axon would've made it better