In this book, Mugerauer emphasizes the interplay between European continental philosophy and North American environments and architecture. Drawing on a keen understanding of conceptual trends in both scholarship and the design professions, he clarifies various competing philosophical visions and their considerably different perspectives on environment, place, and architecture. The book covers Derrida's deconstruction, Foucault's genealogy, Heidegger's originary thinking, and Eliade's hermeneutics in order to interpret cultural displacements and the possible recovery of "place," especially through interpretation of dwelling, sense of place, landscapes, architecture, planning, urban design, and technology.

Mugerauer identifies a series of design principles that might facilitate mutual understanding.