Place-Identity (Architecture)

Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology, spring 2011 issue (vol. 22, no. 2)

by David Seamon

Feature essays: ENVIRONMENTAL AND ARCHITECTURAL PHENOMENOLOGY, spring 2011.

Feature essays in this issue... more Feature essays: ENVIRONMENTAL AND ARCHITECTURAL PHENOMENOLOGY, spring 2011.

Feature essays in this issue of EAP focus on landscape restoration and real vs. virtual animal dissections. 

In the issue’s first essay, Canadian educator Norm Friesen demonstrates how a phenomenological perspective contributes to understanding the lived differences between real and virtual realities. He focuses on laboratory vs. digitally-simulated animal dissections and draws on the ideas of Heideggerian philosopher Albert Borgmann to locate some of the pedagogical strengths and weaknesses of reality-based vs. hyperreal modes of learning.

In the issue’s second feature essay, retired Australian educator John Cameron writes a sixth “letter” from his rural home on Tasmania’s Bruny Island. His focus is the ecological restoration of some 50 acres of overgrazed paddocks, and the difficulties and satisfactions, both philosophical and practical, which arise from his decision to return the land to its “natural state.”

Back issues of EAP are now available at:

www.krex.k-state.edu/dspace/handle/2097/1522

David Seamon
Editor, EAP

Marc Auge on Space, Place and Non-Places

by Peter Merriman

Published in 2009 in a special issue of the Irish Journal of French Studies, volume 9, pp.9-29. The special issue was titled "Exploring Supermodernity: Marc Augé in context(s)",

In this paper I provide a critical examination of Marc Augé’s spatial imagination, from his anthropological studies of... more In this paper I provide a critical examination of Marc Augé’s spatial imagination, from his anthropological studies of African village life in the 1970s to his more recent studies of everyday spatial practices in the contemporary West. Augé’s spatial imagination is apparent throughout his ethnographic writings, but I suggest that his most widely acclaimed book, Non-Lieux/Non-Places, is all-too-frequently read as a theoretical articulation of the changing nature of space in the contemporary West, rather than as a semi-fictional, semi-autobiographical ethnology resulting from one man’s encounters and wanderings in the spaces of contemporary France. I trace parallels between Augé’s writings on non-places and those of a number of other Anglophone and Francophone scholars since the early 1960s, before focusing attention on writings on theories of space and place, and the geographies and histories of globalisation, consumption and mobility, which have led commentators to draw very different conclusions about the sociality and spatiality of late twentieth and early twenty-first century life.

Place, Place Identity, and Phenomenology

by David Seamon

A chapter in The Role of Place Identity in the Perception, Understanding, and Design of the Built Environment, Hernan Casakin, Ombretta Romice, & Sergio Porta, editors. London: Betham Science Publishers, 2011. © 2011 David Seamon.

As recent phenomenological studies have demonstrated (Casey 1997, 2009; Malpas 1999, 2006; Mugerauer 2008; Stefanovic... more As recent phenomenological studies have demonstrated (Casey 1997, 2009; Malpas 1999, 2006; Mugerauer 2008; Stefanovic 2000), the phenomenon of place is a multivalent structure sophisticated and complex in its existential constitution. In this chapter, I offer one phenomenological vantage point from which to examine this lived complexity. I contend that, as an integral structure of human life, place can be understood in terms of three dimensions: first, the geographical ensemble—i.e., the material environment, including both its natural and human-made dimensions; second, people-in-place, including individual and group actions, intentions, and meanings; and, third, spirit of place, or genius loci.

Drawing on the conceptual approach of “systematics” developed by the British philosopher J. G. Bennett, I argue that these three dimensions can engage in six different ways, each of which relates to one particular lived mode whereby place contributes to human life. These six modes are: (1) place interaction; (2) place identity; (3) place creation; (4) place intensification; (5) place realization; and (6) place release.

I argue that place identity is important for understanding the nature of place but is complemented by other modes of relationship that together help clarify the complexity and richness of place and place experience.

Merleau-Ponty, Perception, and Environmental Embodiment: Implications for Architectural and Environmental Studies

by David Seamon

chapter prepared for Carnal Echoes: Merleau-Ponty and the Flesh of Architecture, Rachel McCann and Patricia M. Locke, editors, forthcoming, 2012 or 2013. © David Seamon 2010.

In this chapter, I draw on Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy to explore environmental embodiment—the various lived ways,... more In this chapter, I draw on Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy to explore environmental embodiment—the various lived ways, sensorily and motility-wise, that the body in its pre-reflective perceptual presence engages and synchronizes with the world at hand, especially its architectural and environmental aspects. First, I consider Merleau-Ponty’s interpretation of perception, giving particular attention to his claim that perception involves a lived dynamic between perceptual body and world such that aspects of the world—for example, the heavy hardness of a granite block or the cool smoothness of a chrome railing—are known because they immediately evoke in the lived body their experienced qualities.

Second, I consider the architectural and environmental significance of what Merleau-Ponty calls body-subject—pre-reflective corporeal awareness expressed through action and typically in sync with and enmeshed in the physical world in which the action unfolds. I focus on the taken-for-granted sensibility of body-subject to manifest in extended ways over time and space. I ask how routine actions and behaviors of individuals coming together regularly in an environment can transform that environment into a place with a unique dynamic and character—a lived situation I term place ballet. For both perception and body-subject, I consider how qualities of the physical and designable world—for example, materiality, form, and spatiality—contribute to the lived body’s engagement with and actions in the world.

Housing and Identity in an Urban Indigenous Community: Initial Findings in Inala, Queensland

by Kelly Greenop

‘Can Spirit of Place be a Guide to Ethical Building?’

by Isis Brook

in Ethics and the Built Environment,  Fox, W. ed. London: Routledge, 2000.

This paper addresses some issues that arise from a nexus of ideas that is sometimes called Genius Loci, sometimes... more This paper addresses some issues that arise from a nexus of ideas that is sometimes called Genius Loci, sometimes spirit of place and sometimes sense of place. This is a very old notion that has resurfaced and is undergoing a reformulation. The importance of this notion for the ethics of building rests in particular interpretations that see spirit of place as something about a place that demands we respect it and work alongside it in terms of architectural design, building practice and appropriate daily use. However, this notion is ambiguous and variously expressed by writers in many fields of enquiry. This proliferation of interpretations and uses does nothing to help the development of a robust idea that could inform ethical building, though it may point to a necessary ambiguity.

Moving Landscapes, Making Place: Cities, Monuments and Commemoration at Malizi/Melid

by Ömür Harmansah

Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 24.1 (2011) 55-83.

The urbanization of Syro-Hittite (Luwian and Aramaean) states is one of most complex yet little explored regional... more The urbanization of Syro-Hittite (Luwian and Aramaean) states is one of most complex yet little explored regional processes in Near Eastern history and archaeology. In this study, I discuss aspects of landscape and settlement change in northern Syria and southeastern Anatolia during the Early Iron Age (ca. 1200–850 BC), and suggest that the emergent geo-politics of the region involved the foundation of cities and construction of specific types of commemorative monuments including rock reliefs, steles and city gates. While defining new forms of territorial power, these monuments linked local polities to a shared Hittite past through their literary and visual rhetoric, and a discourse of inherited agricultural land. To contextualize the subject matter, I first discuss the gradual southward shift of an imperial Hittite center of power from central Anatolia towards Karkamiš and Tarhuntašša at the end of the Late Bronze Age, arguing against the widespread models of a sudden collapse of the Hittite Empire followed by dark ages. Furthermore, I present archaeological
and epigraphic evidence for the formation of the regional state Malizi/Melid. This Syro-Hittite kingdom established itself in the Malatya-Elbistan Plains in eastern Turkey during the first centuries of the Early Iron Age as one of the earliest political entities to emerge from the ashes of the Hittite Empire. Monuments raised by Malizean ‘country lords’ in rural and urban contexts suggest a picture of a fluid landscape in transition, one that was configured through the construction of cities, and other practices of place-making.

Global competitiveness versus community identity: Can culture be the answer to managing this uneasy balance in towns and cities?

by Andres Coca-Stefaniak

Editorial article published in Journal of Town and City Management (http://www.henrystewart.com/jtcm.aspx)

City management partnerships as shapers of urban strategy and providers of cost-effective solutions to local problems

by Andres Coca-Stefaniak

Editorial article published in Journal of Town and City Management (http://www.henrystewart.com/jtcm.aspx)

Uncomfortable strategic truths: A time to pause, reflect and ponder on the need for meaningful change in our towns and cities?

by Andres Coca-Stefaniak

Editorial article published in Journal of Town and City Management (http://www.henrystewart.com/jtcm.aspx)

Servicescapes, designscapes, branding and the creation of place-identity: South of Litchfield, Christchurch

by C. Michael Hall

Hall, C.M. 2009, Servicescapes, designscapes, branding and the creation of place-identity: South of Litchfield, Christchurch. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 25(3/4): 233 – 250 < DOI: 10.1080/10548400802508077>.

Place branding lies at the intersection of tourism geography and marketing Contemporary place branding requires the... more Place branding lies at the intersection of tourism geography and marketing Contemporary place branding requires the use of hardware, in the form of servicescapes and designscapes that are developed via architecture, design and heritage; and software, in the form of branding, marketing and promotion. Both hardware and software are studied in the case of the South of Litchfield development project in Christchurch, New Zealand. The study highlights the way that aesthetic and consumptive practices are used to appeal to specific lifestyle groups. At a meta-theoretical level the study indicates that the study of hegemonic cultural processes needs to be extended beyond that of brands to note the way that design ideas, such as ‘new urbanism’, are applied in local contexts. It is concluded that while places use branding and design to differentiate themselves the uncritical adoption of top-down design ideas via real estate and design agents only served to homogenise place and deny authenticity.

KEYWORDS: SCAPES, SERVICESCAPE, DESIGNSCAPE, DESTINATION BRANDING, PLACE, PLACE IDENTITY, PLANNING, REVITALISATION, URBAN REDEVELOPMENT

A Lived Hermetic of People and Place: Phenomenology and Space Syntax

by David Seamon

Published in: A. Sema Kubat et al., eds., Proceedings, 6th International Space Syntax Symposium, vol. 1, pp. iii-1-16. Istanbul: ITU, Faculty of Architecture (2007).

This paper examines ways in which a phenomenological approach might contribute to space syntax research, drawing on... more This paper examines ways in which a phenomenological approach might contribute to space syntax research, drawing on three themes that mark the heart of phenomenological investigation: (1) understanding grounded in real-world experience; (2) human immersion in world; and (3) describing the lifeworld—a person or group’s everyday world of taken-for-grantedness of which the person or group is typically unaware. A major phenomenological question is how space syntax concepts, particularly the spatial configuration of the “deformed grid,” point toward a particular kind of place structure in which the spatial-temporal regularity of individual participants potentially coalesces into a larger environmental dynamic—what is termed “place ballet”—that both sustains and is sustained by an attachment to and a sense of place.

Key words: body, body-subject, deformed grid, phenomenology, place, place ballet

Counter)narratives of space and resistance in a multicultural Parisian banlieue

by David GARBIN