On place-based identity for Housing Studies: a study note

 

On place-based identity for Housing Studies: a study note

Written by Joseph, K.K. Ho   dated: August 27, 2022.

 

A summary: The notion of place-based identity for Housing Studies, mainly covered in the course of Geographical Imagination, offers a rich set of ingredient ideas and postulations for articulating thinking and examining housing topics in Housing Studies. Idea extractions, with key words and terms highlighted, are (i) categorized as concepts-clarifying and postulation-clarifying and (ii) presented in the note for Housing Studies students’ learning purpose. The study note is not a literature review essay; its main use is for students’ learning and lecturers’ teaching purpose.

 

Introduction

The notion of place-based identity is a key one for Housing Studies. It is better conceived as a intellectual theme with a rich language set for articulating and examining housing topics. This note considers a number of ideas that are concepts-clarifying and postulations-clarifying so as to more explicitly identify this rich language set on place-place identity. As such, this study note is useful for Housing Studies students learning subjects such as Geographical Imagination as well as doing dissertation projects. To be specific, the form this article takes is not a literature review essay to respond to certain research objectives. The ideas gathered in this note are presented in the next section. These ideas are numbered with the key terms highlighted in bold characters.

The place-based identity notion and the ingredient terms

The ingredient ideas and postulations collected by me are grouped into two main sub-categories, namely, concepts-clarifying ones and postulations-clarifying ones. The lists are as follows:

Sub-category 1: concepts-clarifying related

Idea 1.1: “There are numerous theories that describe and try to explain identity construction; this issue is made more complex by the fact that different disciplines have their own definitions of identity and their own terms for discussing it. Even within disciplines, the discussion of identity and its components may be contested” (Walker, 2007);

Idea 1.2: “A place can be defined as a social entity or “membership group” providing identity. A place is often associated with a certain group of people, a certain lifestyle and social status” (Walker, 2007);

Idea 1.3: “Phenomenology is particularly concerned with place and home due to the centrality of these topics in everyday life. “To dwell” has been described as the process of making a place a home (Heidegger, 1962). …. Tuan (1974, 1977) differentiated the terms “sense of place” and “rootedness,” describing sense of place as an awareness of a positive feeling for a place and rootedness as a feeling of being home” (Walker, 2007);

Idea 1.4: “In the field of cultural geography, ….  Space is seen as a timeless, absolute dimension, while place might be thought of as space integrally intertwined with time. Conceived of in this way, place is a situated practice constructed of social relations. Such a view is phenomenological inasmuch as the observer is inevitably within the world being observed” (Walker, 2007);

Idea 1.5: “Proshansky, Fabian and Kaminoff (1983) define place identity as ‘a substructure of the self-identity of the person consisting of, broadly conceived, cognitions about the physical world in which the individual lives’ (p. 59). For Proshansky, Fabian and Kaminoff ‘at the core of such physical environment-related cognitions is the ‘environmental past’ of the person; a past consisting of places, spaces and their properties which have served instrumentally in the satisfaction of the person’s biological, psychological, social, and cultural needs’ (p. 59)” (Coen, Meredith and Condie, 2017);

Idea 1.6: “….  place attachment (e.g. Manzo & Perkins, 2006), [is] defined as ‘the bonding of people to places’ (Low & Altman, 1992, p. 2). However, while past research has shown that ‘historical sites create a sense of continuity with the past, embody the group traditions, and facilitate place attachment’ (Lewicka, 2008, p. 211), the majority of studies on attachment have focused on contemporary, rather than historical, aspects of the environment” (Coen, Meredith and Condie, 2017);

Idea 1.7: “The idea of place-based social identities (identitad social espacial) was proposed by Valera and Pol (1994) as an extension of urban social identity (identitad social urbana). ….  information about the origin and whereabouts of an individual constitute a social category we use to inform our interactions with them and that the individuals themselves use as an element of their identity” (Coen, Meredith and Condie, 2017);

Idea 1.8: “Ethnic identity construction involves the negotiation of ethnic boundaries, where the individuals label “self” and “others” in terms of their ethnic categories (Wimmer 2008). Such labeling employs the process of othering, which is achieved by maximizing the distinctiveness of those outside the group (“out-group”), and the similarities of those inside a specific ethnic group (“in-group”) (Brewer 1991; Nagel 1994; Rijnks and Strijker 2013). ….. Lee and Park (2008) highlighted the pivotal role of cultural attributes in different geographical locations to the creation of situational identity .….” (Zhang, Druijven and Strijker, 2018);

Idea 1.9: “I argue identity formation and place making are an intertwined process. The concept of “being placed” captures the ways place shapes the self, the ways in which one becomes the place: a formation of subjectivities. At the same time, I acknowledge this as a structural consequence, that one is placed within relations of power: “being placed” is active, it is the continual positioning of the self in relation to an “Other” (Said 1978)” (Leaney, 2020);

Idea 1.10: “Identity refers to a self-defined sense of ‘who I am’ and ‘who others think I am’. It is a selfpositioning derived from belongingness to ‘home’ (Blunt et al. 2003). …  Place-based identity develops as a result when people’s sense of themselves becomes equated with a particular locale through process, project and performance (Pratt 1998)” (Zhu ,Qian and Feng, 2011);

Idea 1.11: “…. place is always a socially and culturally defined construct through which people struggle to achieve their goals and understand their existence (Harner 2001). Through this socialization with place, place and identity develop a dialectical relationship (Soja 1989), where symbolic meanings are written into physical settings. Thus, individual self-identity is recorded in places (Brace, Bailey and Harvey 2006), and to discover place is to discover the human self (Casey 2001; Heidegger 1962)” (Zhu ,Qian and Feng, 2011);

 

From the extracted ideas related to concept-clarification on place-based identity, the language in the literature comprise comprises words such as (i) space, (ii) place, (iii) place attachment, (iv) place identity, (v) place-based social identity, (vi) being placed, (vii) sense of place, (viii) rootedness, (ix) home, (x) to dwell, (xi) individual self-identity, (xii)  urban social identity, (xiii) identity construction, (xiv) identity formation, (xv) ethnic identity construction, (xvi) physical environment-related cognitions, (xvii) symbolic meanings written into physical settings, (xviii) social category and (xix) cultural attributes in geographical locations.

Sub-category 2: postulations-clarifying related

Idea 2.1: “In relation to maintaining a positive self esteem, this means that people will prefer places that contain physical symbols that maintain and enhance self-esteem and avoid those that don‟t (Hauge, 2007)” (Walker, 2007);

Idea 2.2: “Maurice Merleau-Ponty has argued that our understanding of the world is inextricable from the space around us. We are constituted by an intricate, intertwined interplay between our body, our consciousness and the space we live in – we live in it, and it lives in us. ….” (Brislin, 2012);

Idea 2.3: “Architect and philosopher Juhani Pallasmaa comments that ‘cultural identity, a sense of rootedness and belonging is an irreplaceable ground of our very humanity’. Today many hold the intuition that this feeling of belonging is being eroded by homogenising processes that are flattening and equalising and neutralising the delicate, productive scales of difference between people across various geographies. The sense of identity that nurtures us is being lost.” (Brislin, 2012);

Idea 2.4: “If identity is essential to our survival, if spatialisation has an implicit and essential part in the making of identity, and if this sense of identity is being eroded, then what are the qualities of an architecture that can nurture people and provide an equilibrium between rootedness and alienation?” (Brislin, 2012);

Idea 2.5: “One can gain a sense of place only from taking the time to become intimately immersed in its particular natural characteristics – the very qualities that make it unique at a broad range of scales; by taking the time to get to know the human culture of a specific place with its rituals, memories and meaning; and by taking the time to look closely at the wisdom of the established building culture, before either exactitude or tectonic eloquence can occur” (Joy, 2012);

Idea 2.6: “Participating in community-based initiatives aimed at rediscovering heritage sites may constitute a bridge between the past and the future, as well as a bridge between ‘me’ and ‘us’. It is therefore possible that learning about the past while participating in archaeological digs, the volunteers would bring their historical group-based identities into their present practices, while sharing this experience with fellow community members” (Coen, Meredith and Condie, 2017);

Idea 2.7: “The analytical lens of “being placed” draws attention to the ways in which individuals actively negotiate their social position, through the weaving together of narratives to which they have access” (Leaney, 2020);

Idea 2.8: “… place-based identity is never a fixed status—it is an evolving process that is highly fluid and unstable. The sense of belonging is always in a process of reconstruction (Butler 1990, 1992), and the meanings of identity are in a constant dynamics of transformation. …. to recognize identities is beyond appreciating the ‘unsullied essence’ of a place (Said 1994) .…” (Zhu ,Qian and Feng, 2011);

Idea 2.9: “Place is always under threat. One of the risks that place and place-based identity confront from time to time is the rationalizing forces in the form of lifeless spaces enforced by state powers. This space–place tension, to borrow Taylor’s (1999) term, represents state’s hegemonic, unifying and homogenizing actions enforced on the delicate social and cultural structures of places. During this process, the fine-grained social and cultural fabric of place is reduced at large to the object of spatial processes of modernization and rational reorganization (Oakes 1997)” (Zhu ,Qian and Feng, 2011);

Idea 2.10: “The destruction of place and place-based meanings is in every way associated with the interruption of place-based identities. The local politics of resistance, therefore, is often set under the discourses of protecting territorial identities (Clark 1993; Johnston 1991a, 1991b; Rose 1994).” (Zhu ,Qian and Feng, 2011);

Idea 2.11: “Understanding Person-Place Fit and the changing relationship between older adults and place during the COVID-19 pandemic can influence policies at a community-based and national level” (Weil, 2021).

Idea 2.12: “Place attachment and identity refer to place being an integral part of how older adults define or see themselves. The subdomain is measured by older adults feeling they have a history with the place they live and wanting to remain in that place until they die” (Weil, 2021):

 

Regarding the ideas from this postulation-clarifying category, a number of postulates are identified, including: (i) people prefer places containing physical symbols that maintain and enhance self-esteem, (ii) our understanding of the world is inextricable from space around us, (iii) cultural identity and a sense of rootedness/ belonging is an irreplaceable ground of our humanity, (iv) spatialisation as a part of identity making, (v) sense of place gained from time taking to know the human culture of a place, (vi) community-based initiatives aimed at rediscovering heritage sites, (vii) being place being attentive to the ways in which individuals negotiate their social position, (viii) place-based identiy as an evolving process, (ix) place as under threat from the rationalizing forces in the form of lifeless spaces enforced by state powers, (x) the local politics of resistance, and (xi) person-place fit.

 

Altogether, the two set of ideas and ingredient terms used constitute a fecund language set for articulating and examining housing topics via the place-based identity lens. The list of ideas points to further learning by Housing Studies students on the pertinent academic literature to gain more knowledge on the place-based identity theme.

 

Concluding remarks

This brief study note serves to give some ideas to Housing Studies students on the place-based identity notion and how to further study it. At the same time, it is a handy teaching note to introduce the place-based identity notion to Housing Studies students. Thus, lecturers of Housing Studies should find it useful.

 

References

Brislin, P. 2012. “Identity, Place and Human Experience” Architectural Design November 5, Wiley: https://doi.org/10.1002/ad.1485.

Coen, S., Meredith, J. and Condie, J. 2017. “I Dig Therefore We Are: Community Archaeology, Place-based Social Identity, and Intergroup Relations Within Local Communities” J. Community Appl. Soc. Psychol. 27, Wiley: 212–225. DOI: 10.1002/casp.2299.

Joy, R. 2012 “Identity Through the Grounding of Experience in Place” Architectural Design November 5, Wiley: https://doi.org/10.1002/ad.1491.

Leaney, S. 2020. “The Council Estate and “Being Placed”: Everyday Resistances to the Stigmatization of Community” Housing, Theory and Society 37(4): 383-399, DOI: 10.1080/14036096.2019.1624387.

Walker, R.C. 2007. “An Alternative Construction of Identity: A Study of Place-based Identity and Its Implications” American Communication Journal 9(3) Fall: 1-17.

Weil, J. 2021. “Pandemic Place: Assessing Domains of the Person-Place Fit Measure for Older Adults (PPFM-OA) during COVID-19” Journal of Aging & Social Policy 33(4-5): 332-341, DOI: 10.1080/08959420.2020.1824539.

Zhang, B., Druijven, P. and Strijker, D. 2018. “A tale of three cities: negotiating ethnic identity and acculturation in northwest China” Journal of Cultural Geography 35(1): 44-74, DOI: 10.1080/08873631.2017.1375779.

Zhu, H., Qian, J.X. and Feng, L. 2011. “Negotiating place and identity after change of administrative division” Social & Cultural Geography 12(2): 143-158, DOI: 10.1080/14649365.2011.545140.