Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-335) and index.

Introduction. The next environmental revolution -- The sorry places we live -- Blindsight : experiencing the built environment -- The bodily basis of cognition -- Bodies situated in natural worlds -- People embedded in social worlds -- Designing for humans -- From blindsight to insight : Enriching environments, improving lives.

"Taking us on a fascinating journey through some of the world's best and worst landscapes, buildings, and cityscapes, Sarah Williams Goldhagen draws from recent research in cognitive neuroscience and psychology to demonstrate how people's experiences of the places they build are central to their well-being, their physical health, their communal and social lives, and even their very sense of themselves. From this foundation, Goldhagen presents a powerful case that societies must use this knowledge to rethink what and how they build: the world needs better-designed, healthier environments that address the complex range of human individual and social needs"--