Reading Response

In response to Jennifer Cross' What is 'Sense of Place"?, I find it interesting the many different ways place can be viewed. The way we react to place is only because of the cultural and familiar influence it has come to have on us. Our perspective manifests place. There are so many technical definitions of place. It can be defined as anything from personal and emotional connection, to purely setting. We view things completely differently because of our experiences, and I believe investigation of place illustrates this quite accurately. We create attachments to certain places because of nostalgia, and create ideology based upon forced (or hopefully self-constructed) believes.

We come to have some sort of dependence on place we have come to know so well. It can be so simple as just personally feeling that something is right, instead of having a physical object to express that feeling of place. We feel we belong somewhere because of the connection we seem to have produced over the years with a specific location.

It is also true that we react to things based on how we were raised and the ideals that we call our own. Even if this is more subconscious than not, we tend to react to things based on our 'morals' and how we think we should react. Culture also plays a big role in this. If we have grown up around certain customs, we tend to associate with them - positive or negative. If  we see or experience something that is culturally accepted or intimate, a certain feeling is usually associated with this form of place.

There is also an extent of freedom present to choose a place that is desirable, for any reason. As humans, we have a desire to find comfort and a sense of meaning, which can be attained by finding place that feels like home. This can be found and interpreted in many contexts. We will go out of our way to avoid place that has personal negative feeling associated with it. By recognizing the contrast of all these different forms of place, we can use this entire concept to our advantage to try to maintain a sense of satisfaction within our lives.