Place as a Verb
Perhaps we talk about place, and placemaking, in a backwards sort of way.
As I keep reflecting on how the places we learn shape our abilities as leaders, giving us more agency over our lives and the futures of our communities, I’ve started to wonder if we’re approaching the idea of place the wrong way. Instead of seeing place and placemaking as active processes—verbs, as I’d argue we should—we tend to treat them more like static nouns.
Where we ought to be talking about place as a mix of relationships we build, experiences we create, and the meaning that comes from those interactions, the dominant conversation tends to focus on brick-and-mortar buildings, tourist attractions, or poorly designed spaces. Place and placemaking, though, are far more complex than the simple nouns we often use to describe them.
Places aren’t just buildings that hold artifacts from our past or stages for fleeting events. In fact, they’re often hard to pin down or define in concrete terms. If we only talk about what we can see and touch, we miss the point—the true value of place lies in how it shapes and is shaped by our culture and societal norms. Yes, we see spaces labeled as “gathering spots” or corporations pushing placemaking strategies as if they’re quick fixes for community problems, but that barely scratches the surface of what place really is. It’s frustrating that so many conversations end with the assumption that public squares, galleries, or tree-lined streets define place.
When we talk about place, we should start by focusing on people and their diverse cultures. The relationships and shared experiences that individuals and groups form with one another are what really give meaning to a space. Before we rush to break ground on the next big public works project and prematurely label it as “place,” we need to understand how people already connect with the spaces around them. That, I think, is where the confusion begins: place is often mistaken for space, and without genuine meaning, one is not the other.
As a thought still coming together, I’m curious about how our language around space, place, and placemaking has evolved. Does the way we talk about the spaces we inhabit—and how we create place through relationships, experiences, and shared meaning—impact our ability to shape and redefine these places for the benefit of ourselves, our communities, and society at large?