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HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article

Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Urban Science
Volume 10 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2024.1446919
This article is part of the Research Topic Extended Mind for the Design of Human Environment View all 4 articles

Three waves of extended mind theories and urban planning: The City as a Distributed Socio-Cognitive Architecture

Provisionally accepted
Giulia Candeloro Giulia Candeloro Luciana Mastrolonardo Luciana Mastrolonardo Massimo Angrilli Massimo Angrilli Alessandro Crociata Alessandro Crociata Pier Luigi Sacco Pier Luigi Sacco *
  • University of Studies G. d'Annunzio Chieti and Pescara, Chieti, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This paper article explores the intersection between cognition theories and urban planning, conceptualizing the city as a distributed socio-cognitive architecture. It traces the evolution of these theories through three waves-functionalism, social externalism, and radical enactivism -.Correspondingly, the paper article suggests implications for reorienting urban planning approaches, highlighting participatory design, collaborative placemaking, and the nurturing of place-based affordances. Drawing examples from existing planning literature, it demonstrates resonances with Extended Mind-informed orientations. The conclusion synthesizes these insights, proposing a potentially transformative paradigm framework by reframing rethinking planning as more participatory, pluralistic, and cognitively integrative, challenging internalist and technocratic assumptions.

    Keywords: Extended Mind theories, urban planning, Participatory Design, Sociocultural practices, place-based affordances, Distributed cognition, Enactivism, collective intelligence

    Received: 10 Jun 2024; Accepted: 13 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Candeloro, Mastrolonardo, Angrilli, Crociata and Sacco. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Pier Luigi Sacco, University of Studies G. d'Annunzio Chieti and Pescara, Chieti, Italy

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