About the Sense of Place Approach
Explore Meaning, Connection, Story, Belonging Rooted in Place
A sense of place can deepen how we experience the world.
It can help us feel more connected to where we are, uncover meaning in everyday experiences, strengthen our relationships with ourselves, places, and communities, and inspire the stories, work, and contributions we want to make.
Whether you are seeking a deeper relationship with place, story, creativity, community, or the work you do in the world, this approach offers practical tools and experiences for exploring those connections.
It is both a way of seeing and a way of working that helps people discover what matters, develop a stronger sense of place, and bring those discoveries into their lives, communities, and work.
Why a sense of place?
Places are more than settings or locations. They hold memory, meaning, story, and identity.
Uncovering these connections means more than place knowledge or information. It means uncovering what places mean to us. And when we do, we find an entry point into story, meaning, well-being, and belonging we may have been yearning for without even knowing what to call it.
When people recognize their own relationship to a place—through memory, experience, and reflection—something shifts.
Connection becomes personal rather than abstract. Stories emerge from those connections, and caring can follow.
A sense of place is about more than gaining knowledge or having experiences. It’s about cultivating connections with a place. Those connections help you see yourself in the story.
Finding yourself in the story is what it means to have a sense of place.
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.
Using the tools and practices this approach offers, people explore places from different perspectives. That can include personal connections. It can also include the factual, cultural, and historical stories places hold.
From there, people can then shape their discoveries into stories, writing, interpretive programs, educational experiences, community engagement initiatives, creative work, or whatever they hope to create.
Whether your interest is personal or professional, the approach follows the same essential journey: exploring places from multiple perspectives, uncovering meaning in what you discover, and shaping those discoveries into stories, experiences, and work that help people connect more deeply with places and with one another.
No matter where you enter this work, the arc of discovery is the same:
Awareness → Curiosity → Connection → Meaning → Story → Impact
Why This Matters
In the rush of our busy lives we may pass through places without ever experiencing them or getting to know them.
Many people live their lives disconnected from their communities, and from the nature, culture, and history that surround them.
This work is about healing that disconnect.
This work grew out of one central question:
How can we inspire more caring for places?
It’s a question I have explored for decades with organizations, communities, and individuals through my work with parks, museums, historic sites, land trusts, community programs, and individuals.
The Sense of Place Approach is a practical way of exploring the relationships between people and places. It combines inquiry, research, reflection, story, and creative practice to help people discover meaning, develop a stronger sense of place.
It offers a framework that helps people translate those discoveries into whatever they want to create, from writings to interpretation, education, community engagement, creative work, and everyday life.
What’s Possible
For professionals, this approach offers practical ways to develop their work helping others find meaningful connections with places.
For communities, this approach helps you provide meaningful events that inspire and individual and collective sense of belonging and connection.
For individuals, this approach can help deepen a sense of place, reconnect with creativity, uncover meaningful stories, and explore what matters most.
Whether you're exploring your own stories, strengthening your creative practice, designing visitor experiences, leading community initiatives, or looking for new ways to connect people and place, there are many ways to begin.
Ways to Engage
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FOR INTERPRETERS
Experience a framework that helps you design and deliver programs that evoke meaningful connections between people and places.
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FOR COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
Offer experiences that strengthen belonging and collective identity and awaken engagement in stewardship.
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FOR WRITERS. CREATIVES AND INDIVIDUALS
Uncover stories rooted in meaning, place, and lived connection.
Explore Sense of Place Writing →
