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