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.

Observational Phenomenology in the Making: Learning from Martha Muchow Jaan ValsinerMuchow's Marks-An Introduction Gunter Mey and Hartmut Gunther Part I: BackgroundMartha Muchow and Hans Heinrich Muchow: The Life Space of the Urban Child-The Loss and Discovery, Connections and Requisites Imbke Behnken and Jurgen ZinneckerMartha Muchow-A Life Devoted to Educational Enlightenment and to the Scientific Foundation of Understanding Children's Worlds Kurt KreppnerMartha Muchow's Life Space Study in the Context of Contemporary Childhood and Adolescent Research Elfriede Billmann-Mahecha Part II: The StudyThe Life Space of the Urban Child Martha Muchow and Hans Heinrich MuchowAn Environmental Psychologist as Translator: Some Personal Comments on The Life Space of the Urban Child Hartmut Gunther Part III: Theoretical FoundationsPersonalistic Undertones in The Life Space of the Urban Child James T. LamiellApplying Jakob von Uexkull's Concept of Umwelt to Human Experience and Development Lauri Linask, Riin Magnus, and Kalevi KullBeyond Methodological Dichotomy-Martha Muchow's Methodological Foundations and Their Relation to Phenomenology Peter Faulstich and Hannelore Faulstich-WielandPart IV: PerspectivesMartha Muchow's Contribution to Developmental and Ecological Psychology-Children's Places as Contexts for Behavior and Development Urs FuhrerMartha Muchow's Methodological Heritage- Pioneering Qualitative Research Gunter MeyChildren as Actors-Muchow's Life Space Study and Its Implications for New Childhood Studies Beatrice HungerlandChildren in the Classroom Gerold ScholzMedia.City.Spaces-Children's Lifeworlds Kristin Westphal ContributorsIndex