Thoroughly revised and updated, this text introduces students of human geography and allied disciplines to the fundamental concept of place, combining discussion about everyday uses of the term with the complex theoretical debates that have grown up around it.

List of Figures ix Acknowledgments x Foreword xi 1 Introduction: Defining Place 1 Space and Place 15 Place and Landscape 17 Place as a Way of Understanding 18 The Remainder of the Book 18 2 The Genealogy of Place 23 The Emergence of Place in Western Thought 25 Describing Places in Regional Geography 30 Discovering Place: Humanistic Geography 33 Place as Home? 39 Radical Human Geography and the Politics of Place 41 Place as “Being-in-the-World” versus Place as Social Construct 46 Assembling Place 51 Conclusions: Versions of Place 54 3 Place in a Mobile World 62 Place, Practice, and Process 62 Place, Openness, and Change 71 The End of Place? 75 Place, Identity, and Mobility 81 Conclusion 84 4 Reading “A Global Sense of Place” 88 Historical Context 88 Harvey on Place 90 “A Global Sense of Place” 98 Beyond Reactionary and Progressive Senses of Place 109 Conclusions 113 5 Working with Place – Creating Places 115 Creating Place in a Mobile World 116 Place and Memory 119 Place and Architecture 128 A Nice Place to Live 135 Regions and Nations as Places 141 Digital Place 144 Place and Art 150 Conclusions 160 6 Working with Place – Anachorism 165 Sexuality Out-of-Place 167 The Homeless – People without Place 173 Animals Out-of-Place 186 Conclusions 190 7 Place Resources 194 Key Books on Place 194 Introductory Texts on Place 203 Key Papers on Place 203 Other Books and Papers on Place 204 Key Journals 209 Web Resources 211 Student Projects and Essays 212 Index 217

Place is one of the most fundamental concepts in human geography as well as the broad field of the humanities and social sciences. This highly successful short introduction provides a fundamental overview for students, combining discussion about everyday uses of the term with the more complex theoretical debates that have grown up around it. Now in its second edition, the text has been significantly revised and updated while preserving its valuable brevity. Place traces the development of the concept from the 1950s through its subsequent appropriation by cultural geographers, and the linking of place to politics. It makes these debates accessible to students by drawing on global examples from the news, popular culture, and everyday life as a way of explaining more abstract ideas. The second edition retains discussion of classic issues and debates, but it has been developed to reflect recent issues and research, and to ensure its continued relevance. The new edition also includes an additional section on the use of place in non-geographical arenas, such as ecological theory, art theory and practice, philosophy, and social theory. The book is supported by revised teaching and learning aids at www.wiley.com/go/place, including an annotated bibliography, lists of key readings and texts, a survey of web resources, and suggested pedagogical resources and potential student projects.

For geographers it’s tough to have a key concept like place be so common-yet-ineffable.  Here Tim Cresswell does a masterful job of clarifying and explicating it in such a thorough and readable fashion.  This book is impressive in its breadth and depth, its disciplinarity and trans-disciplinarity, as well as its focus on both the historical and contemporary debates on place.  Michael Brown, University of Washington Place is one of the essential moments in any account of geography but it is also one of the most difficult to articulate. In this new edition of a book which has become the standard account of what place is and how it moves us Tim Cresswell provides a user’s guide to place which is, at the same time, a considered theoretical account. There is no better means of navigating a notion which is both utterly obvious and yet surprisingly difficult to come to terms with. The book isn’t just a highly recommended journey through the thickets of literature on place, it is a genuine starting point for students and scholars alike. Nigel Thrift, University of Warwick