ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 focuses on the interaction between human subjects in the built environment, and on the way urban and architectural settings facilitate or hinder such dynamics. It refers to anthropological literature such as E.T. Hall, and discusses some relevant urban theorist (Jacobs, Gehl) who have investigated the social dimension of the city and criticized modernist design and planning practices. It moves on to describe some corporeal dynamics related to the encounter between subjects, such as the exchange of gazes, and how architectural devices – screens, false mirrors, panopticons – can orient this form of interaction. Finally, it introduces Schmitz’s concept of collective embodiment and its spatial implications.
