This document discusses the concept of place and sense of place. It defines place as space that has acquired meaning through human use and experience. Place is unique for different locations and is dynamically co-created through the interaction of natural and human factors. A sense of place develops as people become attached to a location over time through experiences, cultural traditions, and developing an identity with the land. The document emphasizes that places are living, evolving systems that people are connected to and help shape.

1. L I V I N G
P L A C E

2. Place As a Living Landscape

3. The Phenomenon of Place
“Sense of place”
“He went to that place”
“Put things back in their place”
“He’s all over the place”
“She found her place in the world”
“I feel out-of-place”
“I’m going to put you in-your-place”
“This place is
freaky”

4. Space and Place
“Space is transformed into place as it
acquires definition and meaning”

6. Each Place Is Unique
New Orleans
&
the Louisiana Bayou
Manhattan Island
&
the mid-Atlantic Coast
San Francisco
&
the Bay Area

7. Rhythm
of Place

9. Place is Nested
This Classroom
SF Prep
The Eastside
Santa Fe
Northern New Mexico
The Southwest
“How Big is Here?”

11. Places are Dynamically Co-
Created
Land
Water
Climate
Animals
Human
Settlement
Patterns
Economic
Forces
Cultural
Traditions
Religious
Beliefs
Political
Trends
Plants

13. Finding One’s Place

14. Places are Concentrating and Enriching

15. T e r r o i r o f P l a c e

16. “Place is a pause in
movement…The
pause makes it
possible for a
locality to become a
center of felt value”
– Yi-Fu Tuan
(Geographer)

17. Places are Dynamic and Evolving

18. “A preferred position for the
system, such that if the system
is started from another state it
will evolve until it arrives at the
attractor, and will then stay
there in the absence of other
factors”
Attractors

19. Sense of Place
Emotions of Place

20. “Meaningful places are essential for meaningful
lives”
– Timothy Beatley

21. “Places are immediate, known and lived in”
– Timothy Beatley

22. Eutopia vs Outopia

23. Curitiba & Brasilia

24. “Caring evolves through
attachment to a place.
As one puts down roots
in a certain location and
becomes familiar with
the surroundings, one
begins to distinguish
subtle differences in
even the most ordinary
landscapes”
– Kazuo Matsubayashi
(Zen Monk)

25. At
Homeness

26. Being in
Place

27. Symbols of Place
“As one settles and becomes attached to a
location, one activates space and time… We mark
a space with signs and decorations to distinguish it
from other places, and we punctuate time with rites
or transition. – Kazuo Matsubayashi
(Zen Monk)

28. Disconnected Spaces Interconnected Paces

29. Artifacts of place
“We are all
Place-makers”

30. “A building should tell you everything about the
society you live in; it’s history, its possibilities,
and its future”
– Vine Deloria
(Indigenous Educator)

31. Great
Plains
Chihuahuan
Desert
Northern New Mexico
Sonoran
Desert
Basin
and
RangeColorado
Plateau
Rocky
Mnts.
“Cultural
differences
can only be
adequately
understood
when placed in
their geographical
context”
– Joel Bonnemaison

32. Rio Grande Delta

33. “The concept of a ‘homeland,’ although abstract and elusive,
has at least three basic elements: a people, a place, and
identity with place… People must have lived in a place long
enough to have adjusted to its natural environment and to
have left their impress in the form of a cultural landscape. And
from their interactions with the natural and cultural totality of
the place they must have developed an identity with the land.”
- Richard Nostrand (Cultural Geographer)
Homeland

34. Endangered Places

36. Boomer Nester

37. Value-Adding
Evolving
Interconnected
Rooted
Concentrating
Bounded
P L A C E

38. L I V I N G
P L A C E

39. Questions
• How big is here?
• How is this place processing me?
• Why here ? How did this place come to be what it is today?
• What is this place wanting to be/become?