PLACE & PLACES
 

PLACE is so much more than just a location. In human geography place is uniquely created when humans interact with their natural environment. Place becomes any setting where people adapt to and modify their nature and land. In this dynamic and continual process natural, social, cultural, political, economic and spiritual relationships become inextricably interwoven.  Place is therefore seen as relational - a space of mutual interdependence and entanglement of all life.

Viewed in this way, unique qualities emerge in places which can hold deep meaning for people. These qualities influence the traditions, beliefs, values, language and practices of a place and its peoples. When we feel a deep sense of connection to a place through psychological, emotional and spiritual attachments, the experience is feeling a 'sense of place'.

While each place has its own unique qualities it may differ greatly from other places nearby. Each place transitions seamlessly into other neighouring places, all of which are nested within larger places and contexts.  For example, the Brecon Beacons is a place in the Welsh county of Powys, in the nation of Wales, which is part of the United Kingdom and geographically considered part of the European continent (despite being politically no longer part of the European Union).  Places are nested within other places and therefore context dependent.

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The flow of relationships in a place is interrupted and changed dramatically by events like colonisation and influences like imperialism. When places become owned and controlled with boundaries, borders, strategies, policies and regulations they displace previously existing relationships and qualities of a place. The qualities that emerge in colonised places, like Australia, create hybrid space where the dispossessed resist and constantly need to negotiate with the settlers/colonisers for land rights and access, for social justice and to keep the connection to their places alive.

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