Nähtav ja nähtamatu linnas
Visible and Invisible in the Town

Summary/Abstract: The city, its social content and architectural form have increasingly come under criticism recently. Nonetheless, the multifaceted nature of the city, and its capacity to sustain differing lifestyles, continues to attract people. Because of its inherent contradictions, the city milieu is something either to be enjoyed or despised. The contemporary city is seen not as a mere physical complex of streets and buildings but rather as a living organism. An analysis that takes the latter position as its starting point might choose to rely upon the phenomenological philosophy of essence (Edmund Husserl) and being (Martin Heidegger). In this article I will provide an overview of cognitive theories upon which the analysis of the environment is founded, and will introduce a determination of the small-town milieu using Estonian examples. Since urban studies are usually limited to the analysis of material substance, I find it necessary to make use of examples of methods and theories which attempt to grasp the psychological atmosphere of the city – its milieu. The aim of this article is to move from the position of a city planner to that of a city dweller and to try to understand what and how people feel and see in the city. It is on the human scale that actual urban practices express themselves.

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