Making Sense of Place (PDF)

Essays dealing with the question of how "sense of place" is constructed, in a variety of locations and media.

The term "sense of place" is an important multidisciplinary concept, used to understand the complex processes through which individuals and groups define themselves and their relationship to their natural and cultural environments, and which over the last twenty years or so has been increasingly defined, theorized and used across diverse disciplines in different ways. Sense of place mediates our relationship with the world and with each other; it providesa profoundly important foundation for individual and community identity. It can be an intimate, deeply personal experience yet also something which we share with others. It is at once recognizable but never constant; rather it isembodied in the flux between familiarity and difference. Research in this area requires culturally and geographically nuanced analyses, approaches that are sensitive to difference and specificity, event and locale.
The essayscollected here, drawn from a variety of disciplines (including but not limited to sociology, history, geography, outdoor education, museum and heritage studies, health, and English literature), offer an international perspectiveon the relationship between people and place, via five interlinked sections (Histories, Landscapes and Identities; Rural Sense of Place; Urban Sense of Place; Cultural Landscapes; Conservation, Biodiversity and Tourism).

Ian Convery is Reader in Conservation and Forestry, National School of Forestry, University of Cumbria; Gerard Corsane is Senior Lecturer in Heritage, Museum and Galley Studies, International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, Newcastle University; Peter Davis is Professor of Museology, International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, Newcastle University.

Contributors: Doreen Massey, Ian Convery, Gerard Corsane, Peter Davis, David Storey, Mark Haywood, Penny Bradshaw, Vincent O'Brien, Michael Woods, Jesse Heley, Carol Richards, Suzie Watkin, Lois Mansfield, Kenesh Djusipov, Tamara Kudaibergonova, Jennifer Rogers, Eunice Simmons, Andrew Weatherall, Amanda Bingley, Michael Clark, Rhiannon Mason, Chris Whitehead, Helen Graham, Christopher Hartworth, Joanne Hartworth, Ian Thompson, Paul Cammack, Philippe Dubé, Josie Baxter, Maggie Roe, Lyn Leader-Elliott, John Studley, Stephanie K.Hawke, D. Jared Bowers, Mark Toogood, Owen T. Nevin, Peter Swain, Rachel M. Dunk, Mary-Ann Smyth, Lisa J. Gibson, Stefaan Dondeyne, Randi Kaarhus, Gaia Allison, Ellie Lindsay, Andrew Ramsay