[DOC] A History of Mormon Landmarks in Utah: Monuments of Faith by Andy Weeks at Arts-Photography

Description

This book explores how the weather and city-form impact the mind; and how city-form and mind interact. It builds on Merleau-Pontyrsquo;s contention that mind; the human body and the environment are intertwined in a singular composite; and on Walter Benjaminrsquo;s suggestion that mind and city-form; in mutual interaction; through history; have set the course of civilization. Bringing together the fields of philosophy; urbanism; geography; history; and architecture; the book shows the association of existentialism with prevalence of mood disorder in Northern Europe at the close of Little Ice Age. It explains the implications of city-form and traces the role of the myths and allegories of urban design as well as the history of gender projection onto city-form. It shows how urbanization in Northern Europe provided easier access to shelter; yet resulted in sunlight deprivation; and yielded increasing incidence of depression and other mental disorder among the European middle-class. The book uses the examples of Kierkegaard; Nietzsche; Dostoevsky and Kafka; to show how walking through the streets; squares and other urban voids became the informal remedy to mood disorder; a prominent trait among founders of modern Existentialism. It concludes by describing how the connection of anguish and violence is relevant to winter depression in cities; in North America in particular.