For some time now, I’ve entertained the idea of a longer more formal work, a book perhaps, on this topic of place.
Part of the motivation for this blog in fact was as a venue for working through ideas, generating content that with manipulation could coalesce into a series of themes, essays maybe, and those in turn into chapters for such a work.
The content in the posts here was always meant to be raw, lightly edited, to ensure that ideas were not constrained and found fertile ground. I would hope then there would be enough that results to constitute a legitimate harvest for something of book length that could be published separately.
Previous thinking about those themes or chapters has thus far resulted in:
- the essential elements (definitions, basic concepts)
- the language of place (semantics, leveraging I hope the relevant research of a colleague of mine at the University of Canterbury)
- space and place (using the definitions and concepts from above, how exactly is space transformed into place?)
- global and personal (a consideration of the scale of place and how broader perspectives can link to intimate, personal experience of place)
- the geography and architecture of place (how do these two professions formally treat place? Is there difference and if so do those views ultimately support one another? ie, is it just a matter of scale?)
- technology and place (drawing from the work I did advising for the National Library Big Data exhibition a couple of years ago; exploring the idea that technology can in fact help us connect to place on a personal level, moving past the “big brother” fears and limitations that has long dominated that discourse)
- indigenous place (is there in fact something special or unique about the perspective on place amongst native/first peoples?)
- the so what? (why does place matter? Is there significance in the existence of different ideas of place amongst different individuals?)
- persistent place (what about the resiliency of place in the face of change events? This too a theme found in the Big Data exhibition. Does place persist across time? Is place intrinsic to the human condition? There are several smaller ideas that could spawn off this topic, including drawing in research conducted by another colleague at Canterbury regarding re-establishment of quality of life following natural disasters and as part of informed disaster recovery efforts)
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