To fully grasp the meaning of this concept we must first be able to grasp the understanding of our own perception. Imagine somewhere you spent time at as a child, a grandparent's house with it's tall ceilings or your grade school with long hallways and imposing maze of corridors - everything was so large and impressive, but upon returning you realize it is no longer like that. Even if the physical place has not changed your perceptions of it have. The ceilings are never as tall as you perceive them as a child and the corridors are never as long or as winding. The eyes of a child perceive reality different than ours, and while it is true that your body has grown, it still does not explain why our perception has changed so greatly.
The logical reasoning would be that the place has changed, but that is incorrect, it is still the same place that you once knew, but it is different in your mind. Place is merely a perception that you project onto a physical area, a piece of yourself that you use to create connections with a home, a garden, a cafe, or a city. Everyone has their own perceptions and their own Places, places that they have projected themselves upon and places that gain human characteristics through such projections.
Cresswell's interpretation of Place being a "meaningful location" is in one sense true, but in a greater since it is more than that. Place is apart of the people who establish these connections, and like people and their interpretations place is always changing. Place is simultaneously the memories that we have from previous visits while the current interpretations of present visits. Place is a stream of interpretations by a multitude of individuals at the same time, and it is never the same interpretation twice. Place is always different, yet always the same. Place is yet another paradox of life created by the human mind.
I really appreciate your expression of how something can change but the place didn't change.
ReplyDeleteFor example, when you said "The eyes of a child perceive reality different than ours, and while it is true that your body has grown, it still does not explain why our perception has changed so greatly."
It is interesting to think about how your perspective of a specific place can change just with time without anything dramatic influencing the change of the place to someone. It was only life, or the process of growing up that can change. It's like we are continually changing the connection we have to those places.
Hi Benjamin,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on your observation of place. I, too have found myself disappointed at times by how, when re-visiting a place from childhood, it pales in comparison to my inflated, idealized memory of it.
I also agree wholeheartedly that place is dynamic, and its definition broad. Great synopsis!
You have made some interesting analogies in this blog. With the grade school school hallways and Grandmas High cielings and how it is all our perception changing. This is true in a way, but i feel as thoughh the place is changing as well. We have read that place is all what we make it. Place for one person may just be space for another. So if my place changes to me, than the place is changed. My perception is changed too, but the place for me indiviually has changed as well. Obviously the place in a literal state has not changed, but since we are looking at place as a state of mind then yes, the place has changed.
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