Using insights from environmental psychology, design, and architecture, The Shaping of Us uncovers the often imperceptible ways in which our surroundings influence our behavior. You will learn whether you are a natural prospector or refuger in an office environment, what roundabouts and stoplights say about British and American culture, whether you are guilty of NIMBYism, and how the half-house may be a common sight in the near future.
Wide ranging and global examples cover the differences between personalities and nationalities, how grass-roots and mainstream efforts have been made to build environments promoting well-being, and why we are drawn to “ruin porn.”
Bernheimer traces what makes spaces work and what may become of us if we don’t listen closely to what we know is good for us. The environments we inhabit define our identities — from the earliest moments of our evolution to the worlds we build around us.
The American hardcover edition from Trinity University Press is available from Amazon, local independent booksellers, and everywhere books are sold!
The Shaping of Us was first published Little, Brown in November 2017. The British edition is available from Amazon UK, Little Brown, The Guardian Bookshop, and Waterstones. The Polish edition, Potęga Przestrzeni Wokół Nas, was published in 2018.