SKU: 37123557335

Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives

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Description

Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our LivesOne of the nation's chief architecture critics reveals how the environments we build profoundly shape our feelings, memories, and well being, and argues that we must harness this knowledge to construct a world better suited to human experience 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

One of the nation's chief architecture critics reveals how the environments we build profoundly shape our feelings, memories, and well-being, and argues that we must harness this knowledge to construct a world better suited to human experience

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.

By 2050 America's population is projected to increase by nearly seventy million people. This will necessitate a vast amount of new construction--almost all in urban areas--that will dramatically transform our existing landscapes, infrastructure, and urban areas. Going forward, we must do everything we can to prevent the construction of exhausting, overstimulating environments and enervating, understimulating ones. Buildings, landscapes, and cities must both contain and spark associations of natural light, greenery, and other ways of being in landscapes that humans have evolved to need and expect. Fancy exteriors and dramatic forms are never enough, and may not even be necessary; authentic textures and surfaces, and careful, well-executed construction details are just as important.

Erudite, wise, lucidly written, and beautifully illustrated with more than one hundred color photographs, Welcome to Your World is a vital, eye-opening guide to the spaces we inhabit, physically and mentally, and a clarion call to design for human experience.

--Faith Rose, former Executive Director of the Public Design Commission of the City of New York Faith Rose, former Executive Director of the Public Design Commission of the City of New York

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Published: 03/10/2020
ISBN: 9780062996046
Pages: 384
Weight: 1.90lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 0.90d
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SKU: 37123557335

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4.3 ★★★★★
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KB
Lexington, US
★★★★★ 3
They worked for replacing shelves but I wouldn’t mount them on my wall
Size: 24inch, Color: Walnut
I specifically bought these shelves because of their dimensions. I have a built-in cabinet and when we moved in 6 or so years ago, the previous owners must have taken them with them when they moved. It’s been bothering me the whole time I’ve lived here and wanted to make some but just never found the time to get around to it. I measured them out and these floating shelves were perfect for the dimensions I needed to replace the missing shelves. Would I put these on my wall(s)? Absolutely not unless I corrected the mounting issues. One thing that really stuck out to me was how bad the design was for mounting these shelves. When I took them out of the packaging, the brackets were falling out of the back everywhere. This did not inspire too much confidence that if I hung them up, they would be stable. I’ve had a ton of floating shelves similar to this mounting design, but the arms that the boards slide into on the wall for this particular shelving are thin and flat (while being easily mailable with your hand alone) in comparison to every other one I’ve had being round, or at least decently thick, sometimes with additional screws that you can insert under the board and into the mounting arms for extra stability. Also, any time I’ve ever had to mount a similar floating shelf, it took some finesse and strength to release the mounting arms from the back of the shelf because they fit very snugly. The fact that the mounting brackets were falling out of the back means that they are not snug and prone to be very loose. Another thing that stuck out to me is that the shelves are hollow. Now, for my purposes, this is fine, but again, detracts significantly from the confidence that these would be stable if mounted on the wall and would most likely droop when weight was applied. I also took issue with the fact the boards had no protective covering and were jammed into a box, with the hardware pressing against one of the boards tightly. I just flipped the shelf over to mask the defect from packaging but the side I wanted to use because it had better coloring was the damaged side. Mine did not come with any mounting directions but some common sense would be all you needed to put up something so simple. However, it did not come with a template to mark the wall for spacing, which adds to the difficulty because you have to have precise DIY measurements to slide the boards onto the mounting arms correctly. To be honest, if I were to mount these, I would bypass the shoddy mounting provided and go with some heavy, durable brackets underneath. Overall, these shelves worked for my purposes but I can see how the reviews would be very mixed in terms of mounting and quality. I did get these on a limited time deal and they were priced at approximately $8 per shelf, which was a really good deal to get 4 shelves for that price in comparison to the “normal” price resulting in approximately $11/shelf. I wouldn’t have paid full price for these and would have been highly disappointed had I with the intention to mount them, especially since I would have needed to provide better and more stable mounting hardware. They are lesser quality than others within the same price range and I think you could do much better if your intention is to mount them.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2025
A
Verified Purchase
Amazon Customer
Louisville, US
★★★★★ 5
Would purchase again
Size: 48inch, Color: Light Walnut
I was not sure what to expect when I purchased these. I thought maybe they were going to be a fake particle board. But this was a solid wood. Easy to install, no directions were in the box. There was a few chips in the corner of the wood but overall I would purchase again.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2026
A
Verified Purchase
Amazon Customer
Chelsea, US
★★★★★ 5
Love these and will be getting more. Very pretty.
Color: Oak, Size: 39.4"L x 8"D, Set of 2, Color: Oak, Size: 39.4"L x 8"D, Set of 2
Very nice shelves they look great up and were easy to install. Same color shown in picture. They seem very sturdy on the wall and I love the look of them. They are light weight and a good size just a little plunder 40 inches. Good quality for the price. I'll be buying again.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2026
M
Verified Purchase
Myers3
Charlottesville, US
★★★★★ 5
PERFECT!
Color: Walnut, Size: 23.6"L x 8"D, Set of 2, Color: Walnut, Size: 23.6"L x 8"D, Set of 2
Just as good as expected! Great quality, no issues. Easy to construct and look amazing!
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Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2026
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Verified Purchase
Connie
Whiting, US
★★★★★ 5
Great looking shelves
Color: Walnut, Size: 47.2"L x 8"D, Set of 2, Color: Walnut, Size: 47.2"L x 8"D, Set of 2
Easy to install because of the included instructions. They look great. They’re stable and they included all of the hardware that you will need for installation. I use them for my plants.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2026

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