Speaking of People’s Places

Places are fundamental to people’s lives and well-being. Planners have to make decisions about places, usually when changes are proposed. Often, these important emotional ties to place are not known to the planner, nor are they familiar with the range of ways they could find out about these connections.

Current planning debates – whether it’s the impacts of medium density housing or the logging of forests or the closing of public land to traditional users – often demonstrate the importance of people-place relationships through protest and opposition. And in many parts of Australia, the challenge is for planners to understand and respect viewpoints very different from their own, especially Aboriginal perspectives. It’s about listening with our hearts and minds when people speak of their places.

Specific case studies will be examined to illustrate three key issues: listening to voice of communities when they speak about the places they value; valuing the connection between people and place; celebrating place, and mourning its loss.