ABSTRACT
The hold of place as an epistemological and ontological force, as a common-sense way of understanding our location in the world, persists, enabling us to make sense of the distinctiveness of the sites through which authors move and in which they live. This chapter briefly summarises the evolution of academic engagements with place. It draws attention to some other pertinent theoretical considerations that have been applied to thinking about place. Place promotion strategies have included culture-led attempts to construct art galleries, signature buildings, heritage districts and design-led renovation. Perhaps most persuasively, Doreen Massey maintains that the specificity of place derives from how each place is the focus of a distinct mixture of wider and more local social relations, and these are accompanied by the accumulated histories of place and its previous connections. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
