phenomenology; place 02/02/2021

Place and Placelessness

Edward Relph

(1976)

What is the main argument presented?

Definition of place in terms of phenomenological theory. An ‘alternative approach to understanding
environment’, it was a disillusionment with the simplified structures used to explain the mechanics of
behaviour and social problems which do not capture ‘the subtlety and significance of everyday
experience.’ Main aims: to ‘identify the variety of ways in which places are experienced’ through four
main themes: relationship between space and place; different components and intensities of place and
experience; nature of identity of places and people with places. Underpinning these is the idea that
‘places are manifestations of a deeply felt involvement with those places by the people who live in
them, and that for many such a profound attachment to place is as necessary and significant as a close
relationship with other people.’ Relph also provides a complementary analysis of ‘placelessness’,
which is the ‘eradication of distinctive places and the making of standardised landscapes.’

How is this useful to my research?

Get a reasonable understanding of phenomenology so I can extract what I need

Questions
1. …
2. …
3. …

non paginated
PREFACE
 Placelessness = scientific method, place = phenomenology, difference vs sameness

Changes in interpretations of place

 See here for overview of other writings about place. Some of note:
 Criticisms of phenomenology
 Doreen Massey Space Place and Gender (1994) Challenges notion of place as “sites of
nostalgia” that emerge from historical, bounded sites which is exclusionary and conservative
 Relph infers this means phenomenology also reinforces exclusion and inequality but argues
for phenomenology:
 Phenomenology is relevant because:
 Doesn’t necessarily mean bounded places
 ‘place is fundamentally a phenomenon of everyday experience and thus precedes all academic
concepts and interpretations. This cannot be assumed away or dismissed for ideological
reasons.’
 See Edward Casey (1997) The Fate of Place and Jeff Malpas (1999; 2007), ‘Heidegger’s
topology’

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1 PLACE AND THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL BASIS OF GEOGRAPHY

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2 SPACE AND PLACE
 Diverse meanings of place lie on a continuum from direct experience to abstract thought, e.g.
built environment, individual perception, geometric space.
 phenomenology; place 02/02/2021

 ‘existential’ vs ‘lived’ space are relevant to phenomenological understandings

 Types of spaces are:
 pragmatic or primitive
 perceptual
 existential
 sacred
 geographical
 architectural and planning
 cognitive
 abstract
 Relationships between these

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3 THE ESSENCE OF PLACE
 Problem with trying to clarify what ‘place’ is comes from the intersection and interweaving of
many facets of existence and understanding of the world. But looking at these properties reveals
importance to our experience.

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4 ON THE IDENTITY OF PLACES
 Finding a middle ground between subjective individual experience and generalised description.

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4.1 The identity of places

 Nature of identity as something which is highly individual as well as communal
 ‘While every individual may assign self consciously or unselfconsciously an identity to
particular places, these identities are nevertheless combined intersubjectively to form a common
identity.’
 Sameness and difference

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 Identity can be considered as:
 Components of the identity of places
 Forms and levels of outsideness and insideness (identity with places)

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 Norberg-Schulz (1971, 25) ‘to be inside is the primary intention behind the place concept;
that is to be somewhere, away from what is outside’
 Bachelard (1969, p.211 and pp 217-218) ‘outside and inside form a dialectic of division, the
obvious geometry of which blinds us… . Outside and inside are both intimate – they are
always ready to be reversed, to exchange their hostility.’
- E.g. going to the countryside and returning to the city

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 Perceptual space, egocentrically constructed, organised concentrically from home to away –
defines where is ‘outside’, but boundary between are not sharp
 Anthropology and levels of assimilation:
- Behavioural, empathetic, cognitive
 Less direct ways of experiencing insideness and outsideness:
- Vicarious insideness through novels for example
- Incidental outsideness – places are backgrounds for other activities (e.g. laboratory)
- Objective outsideness – places as concepts and locations
- Existential outsideness – profound alienation from all places
phenomenology; place 02/02/2021

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 Understanding what it is like to be ‘here’:
 Behavioural insideness
- Kind of recognition of where you are based on external cues and immediate experience
 Empathetic insideness
- Overlap with behavioural. More to do with emotional and empathetic involvement rather
than physical/visual qualities
 Existential insideness
- A place where you belong existentially

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- Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath (1969, 39): ‘Funny thing how it is. If a man owns a little
property, that property is him, it’s part of him, and it’s like him. If he owns property
only so he can walk on it and handle and be sad when it isn’t doing well and feel fine
when the rain falls on it, that property is him, and in some way he’s bigger because he
owns it. Even if he isn’t successful he’s big with his property. That is so.’

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 Images and identities of places
 Boulding (1961): an image is ‘a mental picture that is a product of experiences, attitudes,
memories, and immediate sensations. It is used to interpret information and to guide
behaviour, for it offers a relatively stable ordering of relationships between meaningful
objects and concepts.’ Paraphrased by Relph
 For some the image may be superficial and biased but for the holders of the image they might
be ‘complete and constitute the reality of that place.’
 Vertical and horizontal structuring:
- Vertical: intensity and depth of experience, levels of outside and inside
- Horizontal: social distribution between individuals, groups and the mass
 Individual Images

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- ‘Identity of a place varies with the intentions, personalities and circumstances of those
who are experiencing it.’
 Group Images
- Individual images are not completely independent, as they are socialised through
common language, symbols and experiences (Berger and Luckmann, 1967, pp130-132
and pp 32-36)
- Interaction if the I, Other and We (Gurvitch 1971, p.xiv):
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