ABSTRACT
This chapter acts as an important bridge between the conceptual and critical discussions in Part One, and the following applications of Deep Place approaches developed in Part Two. It sets out our case for the centrality of place as a unifying and emancipating framing of the combined crises, and for subsequent action. It recognises the human and social fact that place rears, breeds, and nurtures us. Place is thus more than an important level of analysis, supporting understanding of complexity and planning of localised responses. It is a site for sustainable actions and experimentation. Themes include: place as the site of complex intersectionality of economy, society, culture, and environment and as a lens and organising framework for sustainable understanding and action; the critical role of political cultures in defining place; the dominant (shallow) place paradigm, agglomeration, knowledge economy, and professional planning and development hegemony; place competition in neoliberalism; and the implications for the praxis of the ontological bases for developing Deep Place approaches.
