The Nature and Importance of Place

• What are the 3 ways to define place ?

  1. location
  2. sense of place
  3. locale (an event in a place)
• the subjective and emotional attachment to a place is called the 'sense of place'
• The word "place" has multiple dimensions:

  • Location is the physical point of a place
  • Place has different meanings to various people
  • Edward Relph's work 'Place and Placelessness' reimagines the static and dimensional aspects of place
• Locales are locations in a place associated with everyday activities, structuring social interactions
• Sense of place is the subjective emotional attachment to a place, giving it meaning
• Topophilia is the love of a place, while Topophobia is the dislike of a place
• Places can be categorized into types:

  • Near Places
  • Far Places
  • Experienced Places
  • Media Places
• Outsiders are the opposite of insiders and may feel like they don't belong due to various factors, which can change over time
• • Place = space + meaning 
• Place identity

  • Places and attachments to them are also incredibly important for many people’s personal identities
• Placelessness

  • Some places, such as airports, experience placelessness 
  • Relph (1976) argued that placelessness is: Is essentially no sense of place, for it involves no awareness of the deep and symbolic significances of places and no appreciation of their identities.
  • Globalisation has made many places look very similar, creating clone towns and spreading the experience of placelessness
• • When there is an attachment between person and place due to lived experience, a sense of place develops 
  • Sense of place can also refer to the distinctive or unique character of a place
• • The experiences and attachments people have to different places play a key factor in place identity
  • In order for a place to have a unique identity it must have meaning, activities and a distinctive physical setting 
• Places will often have multiple identities:

  • Brick Lane in East London has had multiple identities over time.  In the nineteenth century, Eastern European Jews came to the area fleeing massacres, but by the 1930s they had left the area for areas like Golders Green and Hendon.  In the twentieth century, Muslims from Bangladesh came to the area and gave it yet another identity. 
  • Many buildings in the area reflect these multiple identities over time, the Brick Lane Mosque has also been a synagogue and church throughout its history. 
• Yi-Fu Tuan proposed that our attachment, experience and understanding of places increase as we age
• • People form attachments to places through lived experience 
  • Attachments can be negative - topophobia or positive - topophilia -  and are determined by the strength of the experience
• Media Places:


  • People can also form attachments to places through perception gained from media or hearing the experiences of others 
  • This engagement with places comes from books, television, film and the personal history of others
  • It is possible to be attached to a place you have never been to
• Insider perspectives come from being fluent in the local language, being born in the place, knowing the customs and norms

  • People who have an insider perspective will usually feel safe in a place
  • They have friends/family and connections in the place
• People can have outsider perspectives if they are not from the area or if they are but do not fit the social norm

  • Those with different sexualities or genders, despite being from the place, may feel out of place as they do not fit the social norm 
  • Immigrants or those from ethnic minorities will have outsider perspectives as they are not from the area.  Their outsider perspective can turn into social exclusion through their experiences
• Dominant groups create a social norm and those that deviate from this norm can be socially or spatially excluded

  • Spikes on the pavement or benches with individual seating are choices made to spatially exclude homeless people 
  • Lack of adaptations can lead to the exclusion of people with disabilities