The dimensions of any place

An Emerging Sense of Place

Lesson: clarifying what we mean by words for places.

Arid New Mexico versus the Columbia River

Start with visualizing | seeing dimensions | analogies | geometry | transfer of ideas | settings are | authorities | terms used | Vocabulary

What is a place?

What do places consist of?

How do authorities define places?

Describe what you see:

Compare to Gregory Bateson.

Every setting is a composite of dimensions.

Length or extent is one dimension.

Width or breadth is a second dimension

These two add up to the square or area of a space.

Height or depth is a third dimension

When added to the square of any space this reveals the volume of any space.

Surely any place, which is made up of discrete and formative spaces that cohere into some whole, is equally as complex?

By analogy what are the three dimensions inherent in any room?

1) extension, 2) square footage &, 3) cubic measure.

Mathematicians describe these numbers in analytical geometry as the three axes of Y, X & Z,

Where:

Y is the vertical axis,

X is the horizontal axis, an

Z is the diagonal axis.

Geometry is the study of abstract and comparative spaces. Since geometry is useful and is derived from the Greek words for earth (geo) and measurement (metre), this subject is a good point of departure for us to define the components in our sense of place.

Are there any other dimensions?

Now apply the idea of dimensions of a cube or room to the settings we encounter. Each setting, surrounding, landscape or area has, at least three means to envision its importance to us as we define places.

By analogy each of the axes above are compared to a body of knowledge derived from inquiries that tell us about areas that are occupied on earth.

Consider this forested bank of the Columbia River:

Every place is characterized by biological conditions, populations and ecological relations, over and above the actual space or spaces that comprise all settings.

Columbia River Gorge, looking east, upriver.

All settings with respect to natural features include the following matrix of relations:

water, energy, air and land.

Biological

Population

Ecological

What do our authorities say about landscape beyond these features of places:

Terminology for landscape

area - literally the square measure of a particular spot.

features - those descriptive characteristics of architecture that define or distinguish one thing from another.

habit - the characteristic behavior of living beings.

habitat - the technical term in ecology for the physical and chemical factors in an area or volume.

habitation - usually a human occupation of either a transient or permanent character.

place - to put, insert, or set something into, onto, or around some other (usually larger) things. Order, orderly arrangement of things in a recognizable relationship.

setting - the stage upon which or in which events happen.

space - abstractly a three dimensional void that may be filled or empty, actually a plot or occupied spot.

territory - from the Latin word for earth, terra, the range or physical space occupied by a living thing.

weal - an acronym for water, energy air and land representing the four types of conditions of any habitat, derived from the Indo European root weald, meaning, in old English, a forest. (wealth)

Land system commentary

Some other words. | Analogies | Planning Index