An exploration of why PLACE is so vital to human well being and how to create PLACE in a time when sprawl and rampant commercialism are removing the texture and vitality from America.
Thou shalt make thy house the temple of a nation’s vows.Spirits of a higher strain who sought thee once shall seek again.I detected many a godforth already on the road, ancestors of beauty come in thy breast to make a home. Ralph Waldo Emerson
My mother and father sent me $100 one birthday years ago, and I bought an old collection of Emerson books from a used bookstore. It was by far the best money I've ever spent. As every year passes, his essays become richer with meaning.
A space that is an integral part and an extension of thenatural world around it, yet reveals the individuality of those who reside there and allows people to interact meaningfully to create a deep sense of belonging.
Marilyn Finnemore Importance of Place
NO-PLACE
Spaces of such temporary, transient activity as to not have the significance to be regarded as “places”; coined by French anthropologist Marc Augé, who wrote Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity (1995). “Marc Augé coined the term . . . to describe specific kinds of spaces . . . designed to be passed through or consumed rather than appropriated, and retaining little or no trace of our engagement with them.”1
1 Emer O’Beirne, “Mapping the Non-Lieu in Marc Augé’s Writings,” Forum for Modern Language Studies 42, no. 1 (2006). (↑)
new urbanism, suburbs, smart growth, main street communities, sprawl, walkable communities, preservation, revitalization, green living, environment, health, nature, well being, stewardship, Loudoun, Del Ray, sustainability, Winchester, North Fork, Purcellville, Virginia, place, no place, sense of place, green architecture, human habitat, living urbanism
2 comments:
Marilyn,
I could spend a weekend meditating on any Emerson quote. Thanks for sharing.
RB
My mother and father sent me $100 one birthday years ago, and I bought an old collection of Emerson books from a used bookstore. It was by far the best money I've ever spent. As every year passes, his essays become richer with meaning.
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