Pathologies of Modern Space ─ Empty Space, Urban Anxiety, And the Recovery of the Public Self

Pathologies of Modern Space traces the rise of agoraphobia and ties its astonishing growth to the emergence of urban modernity. In contrast to traditional medical conceptions of the disorder, Kathryn Milun shows that this anxiety is closely related to the emergence of "empty urban space": homogenous space, such as malls and parking lots, stripped of memory and tactile features. Pathologies of Modern Space is a compelling cultural analysis of the history of medical treatments for agoraphobia and what they can tell us about the normative expectations for the public self in the modern city.

Kathryn Milun holds a joint appointment as Assistant Professor in the School of Justice & Social Inquiry and Director of Comparative Literature / Culture Studies at Arizona State University.

Introduction: Amor et Horror Vacui 1. The Psychiatric Description of Agoraphobia Then and Now: Dr. Westphal (1872) and Dr. Boyd (1991) 2. 19th Century Urban Commons as A Spatial Puzzle 3. Treatments for the 19th Century Urban Commons as a Gendered Puzzle 4. Treatments for the 20th Century Urban Commons: The Urban Freeway 5. Treatments for the 20th Century Urban Commons: The Shopping Center-Laboratory of Behaviorism 6. 20th Century Urban Commons: NeoLiberal Universes of Nonrecognition Conclusion: Horror Vacui, Solvitur Ambulando