ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I draw upon the phenomenological concepts of lifeworld, natural attitude, homeworld, and place to clarify what human-immersion-in-world and lived obliviousness might mean for research in wellbeing. To provide a real-world context for my argument, I present three narrative accounts of ordinary and out-of-the-ordinary place experiences written by interior designer Jane Barry, novelist Doris Lessing, and sociologist Eric Klinenberg. Using these three examples as evidence, I contend that place is an integral, non-contingent aspect of human life and helps to explain why wellbeing can typically be out of sight and thus not recognized as a significant dimension of one’s day-to-day experience. I conclude that, because of the always-already-present reciprocity between human-immersion-in-place and lived obliviousness, professional efforts to enhance wellbeing might sometimes be more successfully accomplished indirectly by changing aspects of place, including creative neighborhood design and planning that facilitate place attachment and a strong sense of environmental belonging.
