Sense of place
Encyclopedia
The term sense of place has been defined and used in many different ways by many different people. To some, it is a characteristic that some geographic places
have and some do not, while to others it is a feeling or perception held by people (not by the place itself). It is often used in relation to those characteristics that make a place special or unique, as well as to those that foster a sense of authentic human attachment and belonging. Others, such as geographer Yi-Fu Tuan
, have pointed to senses of place that are not inherently "positive," such as fear. Some students and educators engage in "place-based education
" in order to improve their "sense(s) of place," as well as to use various aspects of place as educational tools in general.
concept of space
needs first to be defined. Geographic space is the space that encircles the planet, through which biological life moves. It is differentiated from "outer space" and "inner space" (inside the mind). One definition of place, proposed by Tuan, is that a place comes into existence when humans give meaning to a part of the larger, undifferentiated space. Any time a location is identified or given a name, it is separated from the undefined space that surrounds it. Some places, however, have been given stronger meanings, names or definitions by society than others. These are the places that are said to have a strong "Sense of Place."
Cultural geographers
, anthropologists, sociologists and urban planners study why certain places hold special meaning to particular people or peoples. Places said to have a strong "sense of place" have a strong identity
and character that is deeply felt by local inhabitants and by many visitors. Sense of place is a social phenomenon
that exists independently of any one individual's perceptions or experiences, yet is dependent on human engagement for its existence. Such a feeling may be derived from the natural environment, but is more often made up of a mix of natural and cultural features in the landscape
, and generally includes the people who occupy the place. The sense of place may be strongly enhanced by the place being written about by poets, novelists and historians, or portrayed in art or music, and more recently, through modes of codification aimed at protecting, preserving and enhancing places felt to be of value (such as the "World Heritage Site
" designations used around the world, the British "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
" controls and the American "National Historic Landmark
" designation).
s, gas/petrol stations and convenience store
s, fast food
chains, and chain department store
s are often cited as examples of placeless landscape elements. Even some historic sites or districts that have been heavily commercialized (commodious) for tourism
and new housing estates are sometimes defined as having lost their sense of place. A classic description of such placeless places is Gertrude Stein
's "there is no there there".
Location (geography)
The terms location and place in geography are used to identify a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term 'location' generally implies a higher degree of can certainty than "place" which often has an ambiguous boundary relying more on human/social attributes of place identity...
have and some do not, while to others it is a feeling or perception held by people (not by the place itself). It is often used in relation to those characteristics that make a place special or unique, as well as to those that foster a sense of authentic human attachment and belonging. Others, such as geographer Yi-Fu Tuan
Yi-Fu Tuan
Yi-Fu Tuan is a Chinese-U.S. geographer.Tuan was born in 1930 in Tientsin, China. He was the son of a rich oligarch and was part of the top class in the Republic of China....
, have pointed to senses of place that are not inherently "positive," such as fear. Some students and educators engage in "place-based education
Place-based education
Place-based education, sometimes called pedagogy of place, place-based learning, experiential education, community-based education, education for sustainability, environmental education or more rarely, service learning, is an educational philosophy developed initially by The Orion Society, a...
" in order to improve their "sense(s) of place," as well as to use various aspects of place as educational tools in general.
Geographic place
To understand sense of place, the geographicGeography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
concept of space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
needs first to be defined. Geographic space is the space that encircles the planet, through which biological life moves. It is differentiated from "outer space" and "inner space" (inside the mind). One definition of place, proposed by Tuan, is that a place comes into existence when humans give meaning to a part of the larger, undifferentiated space. Any time a location is identified or given a name, it is separated from the undefined space that surrounds it. Some places, however, have been given stronger meanings, names or definitions by society than others. These are the places that are said to have a strong "Sense of Place."
Cultural geographers
Cultural geography
Cultural geography is a sub-field within human geography. Cultural geography is the study of cultural products and norms and their variations across and relations to spaces and places...
, anthropologists, sociologists and urban planners study why certain places hold special meaning to particular people or peoples. Places said to have a strong "sense of place" have a strong identity
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
and character that is deeply felt by local inhabitants and by many visitors. Sense of place is a social phenomenon
Phenomenon
A phenomenon , plural phenomena, is any observable occurrence. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances' or 'experiences'...
that exists independently of any one individual's perceptions or experiences, yet is dependent on human engagement for its existence. Such a feeling may be derived from the natural environment, but is more often made up of a mix of natural and cultural features in the landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
, and generally includes the people who occupy the place. The sense of place may be strongly enhanced by the place being written about by poets, novelists and historians, or portrayed in art or music, and more recently, through modes of codification aimed at protecting, preserving and enhancing places felt to be of value (such as the "World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
" designations used around the world, the British "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
" controls and the American "National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
" designation).
Placelessness
Places that lack a "sense of place" are sometimes referred to as "placeless" or "inauthentic." Placeless landscapes are those that have no special relationship to the places in which they are located—they could be anywhere. Roadside strip shopping mallShopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
s, gas/petrol stations and convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
s, fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
chains, and chain department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
s are often cited as examples of placeless landscape elements. Even some historic sites or districts that have been heavily commercialized (commodious) for tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and new housing estates are sometimes defined as having lost their sense of place. A classic description of such placeless places is Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
's "there is no there there".
Developing a sense of place
Understanding how sense of place develops and changes is relevant to understanding how people interact with their environment in general and considering how this interaction may become more sustainable. For these reasons, human geographers and social psychologists have studied how a sense of place develops, including the importance of comparisons between places, learning from elders and observing natural disasters and other events. Of particular note is the importance of childhood experiences. Environmental psychologists have quantified links between exposure to natural environments in childhood and environmental preferences later in life. Learning about surrounding environments during childhood is strongly influenced by the direct experience of playing, as well as through the role of family, culture, and community. The special bond which develops between children and their childhood environments has been called a ‘primal landscape’ by human geographers. This childhood landscape forms part of people’s identity and constitutes a key point of comparison for considering subsequent places later in life. As people move around as adults, they tend to consider new places in relation to this baseline landscape experienced during childhood.See also
- Genius lociGenius lociIn classical Roman religion a genius loci was the protective spirit of a place. It was often depicted in religious iconography as a figure holding a Cornucopia, patera and/or a snake. There are many Roman altars found in Western Europe dedicated in whole or in part to the particular Genius Loci...
- Spirit of placeSpirit of placeSpirit of place refers to the unique, distinctive and cherished aspects of a place; often those celebrated by artists and writers, but also those cherished in folk tales, festivals and celebrations...
- Cultural landscapeCultural landscapeCultural Landscapes have been defined by the World Heritage Committee as distinct geographical areas or properties uniquely "..represent[ing] the combined work of nature and of man.."....
- TopophiliaTopophiliaTopophilia is described in Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language as literally "love of place". It is a term used to describe the strong sense of place or identity among certain peoples....
- Yi-Fu TuanYi-Fu TuanYi-Fu Tuan is a Chinese-U.S. geographer.Tuan was born in 1930 in Tientsin, China. He was the son of a rich oligarch and was part of the top class in the Republic of China....
- Ian NairnIan NairnIan Nairn was a British architectural critic and topographer.He had no formal architecture qualifications; he was a mathematics graduate and a Royal Air Force pilot...
- Marc AugéMarc AugéMarc Augé is a French anthropologist.In an essay and book of the same title, Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity , Marc Augé coined the phrase "non-place" to refer to places of transience that do not hold enough significance to be regarded as "places"...
Further reading
- Alexander, ChristopherChristopher AlexanderChristopher Wolfgang Alexander is a registered architect noted for his theories about design, and for more than 200 building projects in California, Japan, Mexico and around the world...
. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, ConstructionA Pattern LanguageA Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction is a 1977 book on architecture, urban design, and community livability. It was authored by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein of the Center for Environmental Structure of Berkeley, California, with writing credits also to...
, Oxford University Press, 1977. ISBN 0-19-501919-9 - Casey, Edward S. The Fate of Place, University of California Press, 1998. ISBN 0-520-21649-0
- Cresswell, TimTim CresswellTim Cresswell is a human geographer at the Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author of four books on the role of space and mobility in cultural life.-Education:After attending Woolverstone Hall School, he received his B.A...
. Place: a short introduction, Blackwell Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-4051-0672-7 - Hubbard, Phil, Rob Kitchen, and Gil Valentine, eds. 2004. Key Thinkers on Space and Place. London: Sage. ISBN 0-761-94963-1
- Inge, John A Christian Theology of Place, Ashgate, 2003. ISBN 0-7546-3498-1
- Kunstler, James. Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape, Free Press, 1994. ISBN 0-671-88825-0
- Long, Joshua. 2010. Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, TexasWeird CityWeird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas is a non-fiction scholarly text by Joshua Long published in 2010 by University of Texas Press. The book uses the "Keep Austin Weird" movement as a central focus to discuss the social, cultural and economic changes occurring in...
. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-72241-9 - Massey, Doreen B. 2005. For Space. London: Sage. ISBN 1-412-90362-9
- Relph, E. C. Place and Placelessness, Pion, 1976. ISBN 0-85086-111-X
- Snyder, Gary. 1996. A Place in Space. Counterpoint. ISBN 1-887-17827-9
- Soja, Edward W. 1996. Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-And-Imagined Places. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 1-557-86675-9
- Tuan, Yi FuYi-Fu TuanYi-Fu Tuan is a Chinese-U.S. geographer.Tuan was born in 1930 in Tientsin, China. He was the son of a rich oligarch and was part of the top class in the Republic of China....
. 1977. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-816-63877-2 - Tuan, Yi FuYi-Fu TuanYi-Fu Tuan is a Chinese-U.S. geographer.Tuan was born in 1930 in Tientsin, China. He was the son of a rich oligarch and was part of the top class in the Republic of China....
. 1990. TopophiliaTopophiliaTopophilia is described in Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language as literally "love of place". It is a term used to describe the strong sense of place or identity among certain peoples....
: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes and Values. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-07395-X