In the Midst of Things : The Social Lives of Objects in the Public Spaces of New York City

**How ordinary urban objects influence our behavior, exacerbate inequality, and encourage social change** Assumptions about human behavior lie hidden in plain sight all around us, programmed into the design and regulation of the material objects we encounter on a daily basis. __In the Midst of Things__ takes an in-depth look at the social lives of five objects commonly found in the public spaces of New York City and its suburbs, revealing how our interactions with such material things are our primary point of contact with the social, political, and economic forces that shape city life. Drawing on groundbreaking fieldwork and a wealth of original interviews, Mike Owen Benediktsson shows how we are in the midst of things whose profound social role often goes overlooked. A newly built lawn on the Brooklyn waterfront reflects an increasingly common trade-off between the marketplace and the public good. A cement wall on a New Jersey highway speaks to the demise of the postwar American dream. A metal folding chair on a patch of asphalt in Queens exposes the political obstacles to making the city livable. A subway door expresses the simmering conflict between the city and the desires of riders, while a newsstand bears witness to our increasingly impoverished streetscapes. __In the Midst of Things__ demonstrates how the material realm is one of immediacy, control, inequality, and unpredictability, and how these factors frustrate the ability of designers, planners, and regulators to shape human behavior. "This book describes the social life of five material things found in the streets and public spaces of New York City and its suburbs. In urban environments, objects-designed and built by other humans-surround us at all times and typically occupy our field of vision. These objects, Mike Owen Benediktsson writes, have ideas about us-for example, the chair in which you sit has assumptions about your height and weight, the length of your legs, and the width of your torso, as well as ideas about how you should sit. In this book, each of the five artifacts explored - a lawn, a wall, a chair, a door, and a kiosk - has a story to tell about the social and economic changes sweeping through New York City and its environs. Each of these stories illustrates an important but widely unappreciated fact of urban life - that the ordinary objects and spaces of the city are a primary point of contact with the broader social and political currents that swirl around us. A newly built lawn on the Brooklyn waterfront reflects an increasingly common trade-off between public goods and market forces. A low cement wall on a divided highway in New Jersey speaks of escalating suburban poverty and the demise of the post-war American dream. A metal folding chair on a patch of asphalt in Queens illustrates the political obstacles that face attempts to make the city more liveable and environmentally sustainable. Drawing from these and other examples, Benediktsson argues that our social lives occurs "in the midst of things" in two respects: we are, quite literally, surrounded by objects that constrain and shape our experience; and, through this experience, we come into direct contact with a much larger set of "things" - ideas, laws, markets, policies, etc. - that together constitute the broader ongoing narrative of urban change"-- Provided by publisher

How ordinary urban objects influence our behavior, exacerbate inequality, and encourage social change Assumptions about human behavior lie hidden in plain sight all around us, programmed into the design and regulation of the material objects we encounter on a daily basis. In the Midst of Things takes an in-depth look at the social lives of five objects commonly found in the public spaces of New York City and its suburbs, revealing how our interactions with such material things are our primary point of contact with the social, political, and economic forces that shape city life.Drawing on groundbreaking fieldwork and a wealth of original interviews, Mike Owen Benediktsson shows how we are in the midst of things whose profound social role often goes overlooked. A newly built lawn on the Brooklyn waterfront reflects an increasingly common trade-off between the marketplace and the public good. A cement wall on a New Jersey highway speaks to the demise of the postwar American dream. A metal folding chair on a patch of asphalt in Queens exposes the political obstacles to making the city livable. A subway door expresses the simmering conflict between the city and the desires of riders, while a newsstand bears witness to our increasingly impoverished streetscapes. In the Midst of Things demonstrates how the material realm is one of immediacy, control, inequality, and unpredictability, and how these factors frustrate the ability of designers, planners, and regulators to shape human behavior.

Contents Preface Introduction Part I. Appearance 1. The Public Lawn 2. The Folding Chair Part II. Disruption 3. The Traffic Divider 4. The Subway Door Part III. Disappearance 5. The Newsstand Conclusion: The Bench Acknowledgments Notes Index A Note on the Type