The Sense of Place Approach
Tools and practices to deepen your sense of place
and inspire caring and connections.
A practical and creative framework for finding connection, meaning, and stories through a sense of place lens.
We live in a time when many people feel disconnected—from their communities, from the nature, culture, and history that surround them, and sometimes from themselves.
At the same time, many of us are trying to create experiences, stories, programs, and projects that help people care more deeply about the places and things that matter.
This work helps you uncover your stories and gain a sense of place and belonging that is needed in the world today.
It has been honed through decades of in-the-field experience working with parks, museums, historic sites, communities, and individuals across the country and informed by my sense of place work as a songwriter, interpretive trainer, and writing mentor.
Below you’ll find an introduction to the approach—how it works, what it can shift, and what becomes possible when you apply it.
Why a sense of place?
Places are more than settings or locations.
They hold memory, meaning, story, and identity.
When we uncover our connections to places, we often uncover more than a relationship to place. We find an entry point into story, memory, meaning, belonging, stewardship, well-being, and care.
In this framework, a sense of place is a meaning-making process. It’s gained by coming to know a place from different perspectives and considering what it means to you.
It comes through an integration of knowledge and experience gained through curiosity, learning, reflection, and integration. Connections form and meaning follows. Stories emerge.
Yet this is more than a way of finding or telling stories.
It is a way of helping people find their place in the story.
People enter this work through different doors.
Some come to feel more connected to the world around them.
Others want to strengthen community, inspire stewardship, create more meaningful experiences, or bring a stronger sense of place into their work.
Some are looking for tools and a framework to become better writers, interpreters, educators, facilitators, or communicators.
Through practical tools, creative practices, and new ways of seeing help people discover what matters, find new possibilities, and create work that is meaningful, engaging, and alive.
The Compass
To help people navigate this terrain of memory, place, story, and meaning, I use a conceptual tool called the Sense of Place Compass.
This tool helps people orient themselves within the work and brings together four connected areas of exploration.You don’t need to internalize the Compass to do this work. It simply offers a way to understand the terrain and move through the process.
Each program or individual may begin in a different place, but all four dimensions are engaged over time.
1 ) Knowledge of Self: Learning from personal stories, memories, and experience.
2 )Knowledge of Place: Exploring layered histories, cultural narratives, ecological realities, and multiple perspectives.
3 ) Craft of Story & Meaning Making: Reflecting, integrating, and shaping meaning into stories and expressive forms.
4) Craft of Engagement: Developing techniques, tools, and practices that foster deeper connection and impact.
Way to Engage
Wherever you enter this work, the aim is to help you find stronger connections, clearer meaning, and a path forward for what you want to create.
This approach offers practical and creative tools to help you see new possibilities and bring them into form, whether that is designing visitor programs, leading community initiatives, developing creative work, or looking for ways to feel more connected to place.
Want explore how this could work for you, your community, or your team? I’d love to hear what resonates and see what’s possible.
What’s Possible?
Learn More
FOR INTERPRETERS
Learn to design and deliver programs that move beyond information delivery into creating the conditions for meaning-making experiences visitors remember.
Explore Trainings →
FOR COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
Provide experiences that strengthen belonging and collective identity and awaken engagement in stewardship.
Explore Community Engagement →
FOR WRITERS. CREATIVES AND INDIVIDUALS
Uncover stories rooted in meaning, place, and lived connection.
Explore Sense of Place Writing →
Explore Events Calendar →
