First Comes ‘Place-Receiving’

Is there a predicate to “placemaking” where a place is analyzed and mastered? Is that process of immersion, which I so love to emphasize, part of the placemaking process, or should it be called something else? To many, the question poses a distinction without a difference.

Nonetheless, in talking about Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character during these past few weeks with people from all walks of life, one theme recurs. Many wonder how we take the places we have and understand them before plotting their improvement.

But wait. I’ve written about this before, seven years ago, in my old blog, myurbanist, and, eventually, in Seeing the Better City.

I really think we should be more intellectually honest before we sustain, replenish, remake, or co-create. We should give the foundational research about our neighborhoods, squares, streets, sidewalks/footpaths, and parking lots a plain language name. One More Time: First Comes Place-Receiving.

Here, slightly updated, is what I’ve said before:

In 1997, I returned to Europe after a long absence. My Paris photograph, above, jump-started a then-dormant fascination with the scenery of…