What Americans Build and Why

Creating authentic community.

by Ann Sloan Devlin

Spaces of Great Character: Few and Far Between

Look around you, on your campuses and in your communities. How many work spaces elevate your spirits? How many promote concentration? Creativity? How many such spaces are quiet? Read More

Practitioners' Offices: Lessons from the Past

When we look back to the state of medical practice at the beginning of the 20th century, there's a lot of good advice for psychologists today, especially about where offices should be located and how they should look. Read More

Therapists: Keep Your Office Neat and Tidy!

We manage our appearance with particular effects in mind, as Erving Goffman described in his 1959 book The presentation of self in everyday life. This idea of presentation extends to the physical environment. Read More

Secrecy, Competition, and Culture

The secret of success is secrecy." Not always. Read More

Big School? Small School? Does School Size Matter?

In my community, Phase II of a $133 million dollar school renovation includes a $3.3 million dollar artificial turf to create a multi-purpose playing surface for the football field. But that's not what caught my attention. Rather, what intrigued me as an educator was the proposal to build a single middle school of 1200 students for seventh and eighth graders. Read More

The sidewalk lives in Hanoi, for now

The Sidewalk Lives in Hanoi, For Now.In Hanoi, Viet Nam, the sidewalk is still the focus of urban life, but this may be changing. This semester a colleague and I are teaching 12 Connecticut College students in Hanoi, and I have been struck by the important role of the sidewalk in the life of this city. Read More

Holiday Mall Shopping: Stuffed with Sameness

Many of us dread the annual ritual of trying to find distinctive gifts for relatives and friends, only to settle for the ubiquitous gift card as the holiday clock expires. A major challenge of the season is to discover a gift that you haven't seen before. We seem to be surrounded by sameness, both in the proliferation of mall chain stores and the merchandise they offer. Read More

Small houses with sidewalks, anyone?

The same issue of the October 17, 2010 Sunday New York Times Magazine that asks us what kind of house we can get for $2,000,000 also asks us whether anyone is going to buy a 1,700 square foot Home for a New Economy (that's our current financial economy in a "post"-2008 recession). The answer: Probably not. That's too bad, in my opinion. Read More