This book explores how Marshall McLuhan, with urbanist Jaqueline Tyrwhitt and artist György Kepes, responded to crises in the 60s and 70s similar to what we now face: human-to-human violence on a planetary scale, carving inequities and fomented by arms and mediation; catastrophic human to non-human relations, with human activity sparking irreversible (and accelerating) environmental degradation; imbalanced human-to-machine relations, with computational decision-making outstripping human intervention. McLuhan, Tyrwhitt, and Kepes called for redesign to stimulate sensory engagement and participation. Merging art and science knowledge was requisite to creating counter environments and livable futures and allowing humans to work with (rather than under or over) machines. Placed in dialogue, the three figures map out paths of hope as well as danger zones – geographies that speak to our present as we grapple with the role of technology in infrastructure and environment, art and culture.

Jaqueline McLeod Rogers is a Professor of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communication at the University of Winnipeg. She published McLuhan’s Techno-Sensorium City: Coming to our Senses in a Programmed Environment (2020). She has published articles linking McLuhan to Suzanne Langer, to environmental issues, to human rights, and to parenting practices.