ancient cities

602 Placemaking
economic enterprises or land uses. This is especially
common in response to locally unwanted land uses,
such as prisons, industrial operations, or waste
facilities, but it may also occur when culturally or
socially important sites are threatened by land use
changes. In such instances, public debate becomes an
opportunity for individuals to articulate how they
understand those locales. In letters to the editor,
hearing testimony, and other public pronouncements,
place sentiments that usually remain latent are
actively articulated. Furthermore, when such proposals
require individuals to contrast a place­as­it­hasbeen
with the place­as­it­would­be, they may come
to realize what it is that they value about a place.
Language is not the only means by which places
are imbued with meaning and distinction. Local
cultural distinctions such as food preferences, celebrations,
norms of sociability, and architectural
styles contribute to places’ identities. Many of
these dimensions suggest the connection between
physical and social aspects of placemaking. For
instance, distinctive local architecture and planning
can visually distinguish one place from
another: Brick tenements fronted with fire escapes
announce Manhattan’s Lower East Side, just as
red­roofed adobes do Santa Barbara, California, or
the constellation of historic squares does Savannah,
Georgia. These physical structures are then routinely
used in ways that further distinguish places
where they are found.
The distinctive qualities that individuals associate
with places constitute what scholars refer to as
sense of place. Sense of place can perhaps best be
understood as combining those aspects of placemaking
that relate to meaning, including how a
place is perceived, conceptualized, spoken about,
and remembered. Although these actions are relatively
intangible compared to the more concrete
dimensions of placemaking, local sense of place
can have tangible impacts to the extent that it
motivates political action. For instance, in outlying
areas of the Los Angeles conurbation, where agricultural
land uses are rapidly being supplanted by
tract homes and strip malls, county fairgrounds
have become sites of pronounced struggles over
land use. Because fairgrounds generate little revenue
and are used only sporadically during the year,
they may be slated for redevelopment or relocation.
For those who use these parcels, however—
the fairgoers and fair volunteers—fairgrounds
serve an important purpose in affirming places’
distinction from Los Angeles and symbolize their
place’s rural and family­oriented character. Locals
have called on their sense of place to rally support
for fairgrounds in their historic locations, thwarting
urban redevelopment proposals of the type
that routinely occur in other cities.
The preservation of culturally important sites is
one means by which the meanings associated with
places endure. When preserved or reconstructed,
historic structures serve as evidence of past events
and lifeways. Monuments commemorating historic
events remind current populations of what may
have occurred in a place or recall individuals from
an area who committed noteworthy acts. These
structures and monuments often contribute to conceptions
of local heritage and sense of place and
may indicate just what about a place is to be preserved
or defended. An important question is which
past, or whose past, will be commemorated or preserved.
Scholars have noted that the powerful are
more successful at articulating their versions of the
past than are the powerless and that the contributions
of working people, racial and ethnic minorities,
and women are often erased when places
important to their histories are destroyed.
Conscientious Placemaking
Contemporary architectural and planning conventions
are often criticized as eroding the distinctions
between places and lending a certain sameness to
the built environment. The predictable architecture
of chain stores and restaurants takes much of the
blame, as does planning that facilitates automobile
travel at the expense of pedestrian access. A number
of place professionals, including those identified
with the new urbanism, are now seeking to
capture local culture and sense of place as they
engage in the physical aspects of placemaking.
Drawing on local history, architectural norms, and
community needs, they attempt to create places
that encourage mixed uses and social interaction.
The term placemaking is often used in the planning
literature to describe this specific process.
The conscious work of placemaking also occurs
on a more incremental level as individuals work to
make their communities more meaningful and useful.
This may occur through community development
projects such as the construction of parks,