ABSTRACT
According to phenomenological interpretations, places are not simply material receptacles containing human experiences but are partly defined by them (Canter 1977; Tuan 1980; Proshansky 1983). Space becomes place when material and spatial elements of environment are given life by the meanings, associations and experiences people inject into them during daily life. Accepting places as experiential as well as material and spatial entities challenges those who design them: the tangibility of the built environment that allows us to sculpt and order our settings does not readily hold for the fluid subjectivity of human emotional expression. Place as spatial and experiential fusion implies embracing a different indeterminate form of order, which Jane Jacobs likens to the dynamism of dance.
