Life Space of the Urban Child - Perspectives on Martha Muchow's Classic Study

The heart of this book is the translation of The Life Space of the Urban Child, written in 1935 by Martha and Hans Heinrich Muchow. Life Space provides a fresh look at children as actors and how they absorb their city environments. It uses an empirical base connected with theories about the worlds in which children live.The first section provides historical background on Muchow's study and the author. The second section presents the translation of the Life Space study, as well as comments from an environmental psychologist's perspective. The third section reviews the study's theoretical foundations, including the concept of "critical personalism," the perspectives of phenomenology, and the notion of Umwelt (environment). The last section addresses various lines of research developed from the Life Space study, including Muchow's work in describing children in urban environments, methodological approaches, and the significance of space in social science and educational contexts.The manner in which Martha Muchow conducted her studies is itself of note. She obtained access to the children in their environments and combined observation with cartographies and essays produced by the children. This approach was new at the time and continues to inspire researchers today. This volume is the latest work in Transaction's History and Theory of Psychology series.Table of ContentSeries Editor's ForewordObservational Phenomenology in the Making: Learningfrom Martha MuchowJaan ValsinerMuchow's Marks—An IntroductionGunter Mey and Hartmut GuntherPart I: BackgroundMartha Muchow and Hans Heinrich Muchow:The Life Space of the Urban Child—The Loss andDiscovery, Connections and RequisitesImbke Behnken and Jurgen ZinneckerMartha Muchow—A Life Devoted to EducationalEnlightenment and to the Scientific Foundationof Understanding Children's WorldsKurt KreppnerMartha Muchow's Life Space Study in the Context ofContemporary Childhood and Adolescent ResearchElfriede Billmann-MahechaPart II: The StudyThe Life Space of the Urban ChildMartha Muchow and Hans Heinrich MuchowAn Environmental Psychologist as Translator: SomePersonal Comments on The Life Space of the Urban ChildHartmut GuntherPart III: Theoretical FoundationsPersonalistic Undertones in The Life Space of the Urban ChildJames T. LamiellApplying Jakob von Uexkull's Concept of Umweltto Human Experience and DevelopmentLauri Linask, Riin Magnus, and Kalevi KullBeyond Methodological Dichotomy—MarthaMuchow's Methodological Foundations and TheirRelation to PhenomenologyPeter Faulstich and Hannelore Faulstich-WielandPart IV: PerspectivesMartha Muchow's Contribution to Developmentaland Ecological Psychology—Children's Places asContexts for Behavior and DevelopmentUrs FuhrerMartha Muchow's Methodological Heritage—Pioneering Qualitative ResearchGunter MeyChildren as Actors—Muchow's Life Space Studyand Its Implications for "New" Childhood StudiesBeatrice HungerlandChildren in the ClassroomGerold ScholzMedia.City.Spaces—Children's LifeworldsKristin WestphalContributorsIndexBiographical NoteGunter Mey is professor of developmental psychology at the University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Germany. Hartmut Gunther is professor of environmental psychology and director of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Brasilia, Brazil.