PLACE? LUGAR? SITIO?

Abstract

In English speaking cultures, the term place refers to site‐specific qualities of attachment. Place, place-making, sense of place, are all terms derived from this central concept that have been taken up in various fields of research. Despite its widespread take‐up, the term place is anglo‐centric and culturally specific. In the UK, USA and Australia, the concept of place, and by extension placemaking is enshrined in legislation through statutory community engagement requirements. Yet in the Spanish language there is no direct translation of place‐words such as Lugar, Sitio, or Ambiente appear not to have the same connotations of attachment or the augmented perception and cultural importance of Englishs place. The aim of this chapter is to examine English and Spanish literature on place in conjunction with design projects (i.e. urban spaces) across a selection of Anglophone and Ibero‐American countries where thematic characteristics of place are exhibited. We intend to use Australia, Mexico and Spain, countries with which the authors have national connections to frame (i.e. encuadrar) and begin to understand their respective in‐country community based application(s). The framing/encuadrado of these terms (i.e. place/placemaking) is not done as a means to compare Western vs. Ibero‐American constructs of place and related terms; nor to identify where similarities and differences may or may not occur. Rather, this encuadrado is used as a means to present alternative constructs to these terms that may, more appropriately, be applied in Ibero‐American cultures and in the creation of positively perceived participatory urban contexts and settings.