A Sense of Place

Have you ever started using a phrase not knowing where it came from and then realized that it is a real term and not one that you made up?

I did that with “a sense of place.” This is a term used when people are building cities or any type of space that is going to be used by people - which is pretty much all of them.

I’ve been trained to have a designer’s eye, to find the beauty in things created.

As an aside: Design is communication. Communication is leadership. Design simply. Communicate clearly. Rule the world.

The idea of a “sense of place” keeps coming up for me, so I wanted to define what it means to me. When I write about places moving forward, this is the perspective I’m writing from.

When I talk about a sense of place, I’m talking about a space that reminds me of home.

The next thing I have to define is my definition of home.

It’s a two-fold concept to me.

1. Home represents belonging, safety, comfortability. It’s a feeling that if things are going wrong or life is chaotic, I have a place to go back to where I know the end of the story - that it will be ok. It’s a feeling of peace, comfort, love. Home and family could be synonymous ideas, but I think because I’m an introvert and people wear me out (even my family), a location in the form of “home” is what I think of.

2. The second idea builds on the first. My worldview is built upon my beliefs as an American female who believes God used the Jewish people through the sacrifice of man-God Jesus to bring all the world back into community with Him. I believe God created the ultimate home for humans, but with the fall of Adam and Eve we screwed it up and lost it. We lost the ultimate place of belonging, comfort and love, and ever since we’ve been trying to recapture that feeling in so many ways. Like in our literal homes and in the places that we are designing and creating.

All of the ideas of a “sense of place” hinge on the idea that these spaces are created for humans. It’s people centric design. Design for others. Yes, many times these spaces are commercial spaces for businesses to make money, but I’d make the argument that if people are at the center of why you create and why you’re in business you’ll make more money. That idea will show up as I write about some of the spaces that have had an effect on me.