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What is a sense of place?
Some initial thoughts on approaches to
understanding the visual environment

The need for clear thinking about the visual environment is particularly important in the current circumstances. In our context we cannot restrict our thinking to the 'built' or urban environment, but must also address the man-made and natural environment. Our values, in Scotland and elsewhere, have changed. We no longer see 'progress' and the development of human society as unequivocal 'goods'. We are seeking a new understanding of balance between the development of our quality of life through technology, and the long term sustainability of our environment. Progress, in a technological sense, has been valued highly since the industrial revolution. Now other values are being articulated. There are various conceptual focal points of values concerning the visual environment, including ecology and bio-diversity, sustainable development and 'sense of place', amongst others.

The responsibility for the development of thinking about the visual environment is shared between architecture, landscape architecture (and planners) and visual artists (and in particular sculptors). Primary responsibility for the articulation of our values in the visual environment also rest within these disciplines.

'Sense of place' defines an increasingly important value which is significantly affected by the understanding of the visual environment. 'Sense of place' is something recognised intuitively by all of us whether we are professionally involved in the issue or not. 'Sense of place' is clearly becoming an increasingly important issue, and a focal point for conflict between a range of values and priorities. This conflict is manifest in Prince Charles' interventions on architecture, the debate in the newspapers about wind farms, and the complex issues, subject of political discussion and debate, around greenbelts and suburbanisation.

'Sense of place' is a concept that is of interest to artists, architects, and landscape architects, as well as agencies such as Scottish Natural Heritage, Historic Scotland, the National Trust, the Local Authorities (and in particular their planning departments), and the Scottish Executive. 'Sense of place' has become a key locus of value within the development of the understanding of the visual environment. 'Sense of place' is therefore a common point of reference for each of the disciplines and agencies. Taking this common point of reference we can observe that the disciplines and agencies each approach the issue with a different set of expectations.

Each discipline and agency is focused on a different set of assumptions. Inherent in each discipline and agency is a different set of beliefs about knowledge which in turn lead to a different set of methodologies. Some detailed thought needs to be given to the different roles of disciplines and agencies, but in this case they are all be treated as relevant actors.

Over recent years, Scottish Natural Heritage has undertaken work to develop a methodology for 'mapping' landscape' in terms of the characteristics that contribute to a sense of place. They have identified 55 landscape types in Scotland through this process. This process is primarily visual and is undertaken by landscape architects with a background in the sciences and an expertise in geology, botany, agriculture, forestry, etc. This process has begun to involve non-visual characteristics such as historical knowledge. Fundamentally, this approach is aimed at revealing a description of readily observable characteristics that are in some sense objective, not least because they are broadly uncontentious.

An architect is bound by a pragmatism because the creative processes are tied to functionality. The discipline seeks to make new connections and seeks new solutions through reflection, revelation and imagination. Whilst visualisation technologies and material technologies have in many ways freed architects, the belief of the discipline, and therefore the methodologies, is about the creation of spaces for people to inhabit. The architect's practice is fundamentally social.

An artist's approach to this same issue is different: it does not need to be in any sense objective, rigorous, or 'methodological'. It is primarily personal, temporal and intuitive. One might juxtapose the Landscape Assessment Form used by Scottish Natural Heritage with the text works by Hamish Fulton as demonstrating the disparity of approaches to the articulation of a sense of place. Both involve the use of words to identify the salient characteristics of the sense of a particular place. In some cases the same words might even be used, but where Scottish Natural Heritage is mapping one of 55 landscape types with the purposes of land management in mind, Fulton is conceptualising and specifying the experience of a walk as a wholly individualised experience. His manifestation of that walk in a work of art articulates the elements of the experience that, for him, define the 'sense of place'. Also, his 'place' is a trajectory, rather than a fixed 'spot'.

Historically it is the architects and landscape architects (including their antecedents, the landscape designers and gardeners) who have been responsible for the formal creation of 'places'. Now artists are also involved in this territory - the iconic examples are surely Smithson's 'Spiral Jetty' and Turrell's 'Roden Crater', but the work of Denes, Cole, Maine, Hamilton Findlay, Singer, Lutz, Goldberg, Chin, Ukeles, Helen Mayer and Newton Harrison, and many others have articulated new approaches which are clearly value driven.

One of the most interesting examples of an artist's articulation of value within an architectural context is Michael Singer and Linnea Glatt's involvement with the 27th Avenue Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Singer and Glatt were initially selected to develop work within the context of the City Public Art Program for the Center.

"Ultimately, and at the urging of Phoenix's Director of Public Works, Singer and Glatt were able reconceive the entire plant design including roads, site plan, landscape, architecture and structural design. The new design has won numerous awards and was deemed one of the ten most important buildings of the year in by the New York Times 1993-1994."

The artists articulated a strong set of values about the visual environment, as well as generating a new set of values around city waste.

The understanding of the visual environment impacts on the quality of developmental work undertaken in communities. The visual environment is understood though visual research (Singer articulates this through his identification of the artists' studio practice as the critical skill), and also through the development of an understanding of the cultural, traditional and sensory context. Memory, tradition, history, language and a number of other factors all contribute to a sense of place. This is acknowledged by all the disciplines.

Each of these disciplines has different approaches to, and priorities for, the values in the visual environment, and to the idea of 'sense of place'. Some articulate an impetus to protect, conserve, and defend contexts which are identified as having a 'sense of place'.  Others articulate an impetus to reflect, reveal and imagine a 'sense of place'. This might be a definition for creativity, before any issue of intervention is involved.

A manifesto is a call to action. Sense of place is not the only area of shared interest between architects, landscape architects and artists. I would therefore propose the following areas for action:

Discussion: The formation of networks to facilitate interdisciplinary discussion and debate.

Research: The development of opportunities for inter- and cross-disciplinary research.

Action: The promotion of holistic thinking and practice through the mutual understanding of each discipline.

with thanks to:
Dr. Anne Douglas, Senior Research Fellow, Gray's School Art,
Prof. Robin Webster, Scott Sutherland School.

© Chris Fremantle 2002

This manifesto was written as part of the submission to the National Programme run by The Lighthouse in Glasgow. The submission was for Architecture Residencies at SSW. The quality of submissions was so high that two were appointed - Wendy Gunn and Simon Beeson.

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