Blog #1: PLACE

Place is defined as “a meaningful location” in the Cresswell book on page 7. However, place seems to have many subjective definitions, depending on the individual as well as the physical location of the space in question. Narrative shapes our understanding and experiences in place, because we are the ones who give it meaning through such.  On page 8 of Cresswell, the book states that "undifferentiated space becomes place". I think the implications of that statement is simply that we assign the meaning of an undifferentiated space as being simply that. It then becomes a place that is not special to us, and may hold no  meaning, but still a place nonetheless.

Landscape and place are shaped by fiction and visual arts by painting us a picture, or a visualization of what a place is supposed to be, or what meanings we are supposed to assign to it based on the feelings evoked by scenery or through story telling. With fiction or landscape, spaces can  become places without our own experience but the experience through these outlets.

To "inhabit" place is to make it your own, to possess it. The book talks about moving into a college dorm with a new roommate. To differentiate this room from previous owners and eachother, one might put up posters or photos, choose certain colors and decorations, whatever it takes to make that space feel like THEIR place, their inhabited place, and not someone else's place. A study of place in America reveals that there are many, many ways to define place and that consequently, there is no one way of looking at place in America. That speaks volumes about the culture and attitudes, beliefs, etc. of the people who make up "America", and everything that the word encompasses.