Harold D. Lasswell

The Signature of Power: Buildings, Communication and Policy Harold D. Lasswell

Advanced industrial societies are becoming aware of what they do to the physical and biological environment, and what the environment does to individuals. In The Signature of Power, Lasswell examines the symbolic use that people make of their surround­ings and the symbolic complexity of the way they interpret an altered envi­ronment. Transformed habitats can change experiences and behaviors. All beings seek to maximize their prefer­red events, such as power and wealth, when utilizing the environment ? be it glass skyscrapers or Gothic estates. Physical structures are modified to give expression to the perspectives of influential individuals and groups.

This fascinating study considers the complex interplay between the mate­rial and the symbolic. The physical changes introduced for political pur­poses by architects, planners, and en­gineers are guided by the perspectives of designers. Interactions occurring in human society are simultaneous acts of communication and collaboration. Regardless of whether physical resources are specified for the transmission of messages, they nevertheless have a de­gree of communicative impact.

Physical structures may be profoundly affected by the purposes, assumptions, and identities of those people who plan or change them. Environmental de­sign, says Lasswell, is an instrument of political power.