The Sense of Place Approach
A Creative and Practical Framework for Evoking Connections Between People and Place
Find personal stories of connection that help people and places thrive.
In a time when many people live disconnected from their communities and the nature, culture, and history that surround them, this work offers a door into connection, meaning, and well-being through a sense of place lens.
Finding personal connections to places helps us reconnect with ourselves, one another, and what matters.
This approach has been honed through more than two decades of in-the-field experience working with parks, museums, historic sites, communities, and individuals across the country. It is also informed by my own experience finding sense of place stories throughout my life, including my work as a songwriter, conservation advocate, interpretive trainer, and writing mentor.
I started doing this work to inspire more caring for places. I saw how information was one way to reach people, and sharing stories was another. But the real change happened when people discovered their own stories about connection to places.
Finding those stories is what this work is all about.
Below you'll find an introduction to the approach—how it works, what it can shift, and what becomes possible when you apply it.
How This Work Unfolds
No matter how you'd like to apply this approach—to a program, a project, a community experience, or a personal exploration—the arc of discovery is the same, moving from awareness through story.
Awareness → Curiosity → Connection → Meaning → Story → Caring
Your exploration might focus on uncovering your experiences: the memories you hold, the places that have shaped you, or the experiences you are having right now.
It might start with exploring your understanding of a place itself: the knowledge you already have, or the layers of time, culture, history, and perspective you want to uncover and understand more deeply.
You'll begin to discover connections between what you know, what you've experienced, and what matters to you. From those connections, meaning emerges. And when meaning emerges, stories begin to form.
In my programs, the tools and practices you'll experience help guide that exploration, transforming ideas and insights into stories you can develop in your personal, professional, or creative work.
But the end result is more than a story. It is a deeper relationship with place, a clearer understanding of what matters, and new ways of finding connection in your own life and helping others discover those connections for themselves too.
It also provides an understanding of why sense of place connections inspire caring—and why caring is often the first step toward stewardship, belonging, and engagement.
Navigating the Terrain:
The Sense of Place Compass
All four of these dimensions are explored in my programs. Each one serves as an entry point for discovery and understanding. You don’t need to internalize these ideas, you just need to find yourself in them.
Knowledge of Self: Learning from personal stories, memories, and experience.
Knowledge of Place: Exploring layered histories, cultural narratives, ecological realities, and multiple perspectives.
Craft of Story & Meaning Making: Reflecting, integrating, and shaping meaning into stories and expressive forms.
Craft of Engagement: Developing techniques, tools, and practices that foster deeper connection and impact.
Applying this Approach in Practice
Interpretation, Conservation and Tourism
With a deeper understanding of how place connections form, you’ll approach program design, media and planning from a different perspective. You gain tools and practices to see through a sense of place lens and shift from sharing content to creating conditions for connection.
Writers and Creatives
You’ll uncover stories, ideas, and imagery grounded in your own experiences and draw on memories, observations and knowledge. You’ll experience an integrative process for moving from connection into meaning, taking your writing beyond recalling what happened in a place and time, into what it came to mean.
If you are here as an individual...
You'll gain a lens for exploring your inner and outer landscapes—slowing down, paying closer attention, and rediscovering meaning in your experiences and the places that have shaped you. You'll become more rooted in where you are and more connected to who you are.
Explore Further
If you'd like to explore how this approach could work for you, your community, or your team, I'd love to hear what resonates and see what's possible.
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FAQ’s
What is a sense of place?
In this approach, sense of place is a meaning-making process. It helps us understand what places mean to us, why they matter, and how our relationship with them shapes what we notice, remember, value, and care for.
When we reflect on what we know about a place, what we have experienced there, and what we notice or feel in relationship to it, connections begin to form. From those connections, meaning emerges. Through reflection and integration, our individual and ongoing sense of place is formed.
What is a sense of place story?
A sense-of-place story is more than a recounting of what happened. It begins with a connection to place and grows through the details, memories, observations, and insights that relationship reveals.
It shares not only the experience itself, but what that experience came to mean.
How do stories inspire caring?
Stories help us make meaning from our experiences. They reveal not only what happened, but why it mattered.
When we share stories of connection to place, we invite others into experiences, perspectives, and relationships they may not have considered before. Through stories, information becomes meaningful, places become personal, and caring becomes possible.
How is this framework applied in different kinds of Erica’s programs?
The framework remains the same, but the focus changes depending on the purpose of the program and the people involved.
In interpretive training, it helps educators, guides, and communicators understand how place connections form and how to create experiences that move beyond information delivery into meaningful engagement.
In community and organizational programs, it helps people explore shared histories, stories, and experiences that strengthen belonging, deepen appreciation, and inspire caring for places and one another.
In writing and creative programs, it provides tools and practices for uncovering personal stories, developing meaning from experience, and shaping that meaning into compelling stories and creative work.
For individuals, it offers a way to explore personal connections to place, reflect on experiences, and discover stories that deepen self-understanding and enrich everyday life.
While the applications vary, the underlying journey remains the same: helping people move from awareness and curiosity into connection, meaning, story, and caring.