LETTER: PLACEDNESS IDEA

Placedness whilst I think I understand the concept, the word seems awkward and in that doesn’t truly reflect the sense of being that one gets from a connection to place. 

 Well perhaps it is only awkward for those whom see “country” (land) as a commodity to be brought and sold and financially capitalised on rather than treating it as a cultural asset and using it to increase the cultural capital (economy) of a place. 

Awkward for those where the other values of land get in the way of their “Financial Vision”. 

Maybe it needs to be awkward to promote thinking. 

Herein I believe lies the root cause of the current housing issue, where home is and investment opportunity not where the heart is.

Maybe thats the romantic colonial Westerner coming out in me. 

Indigenous people talk about country, being ‘on country’ Westerners probably struggle with that concept because of their understanding of that - as the whole of the Australian nation being country, muddied by the fact that they have come from another country, country in this context then has political connotations connected to the likes of refugee status etc. 

Wine people talk about Terri-or (“tare WAHr”) Terroir is commonly translated as a sense of place in wine. https://www.thewineandmore.com/stories/terroir-wines/ 

Typically, terroir is defined as the set or system of environmental factors that affect the quality of grapes and therefore wine. Although every factor influences the others to some extent to form a whole (the terroir), it can be broken down into four main components. 

And this is where it starts to go pear shaped CLIMATE, SOIL, TOPOGRAPHY, and then it starts to get contested. And some start to include the human influence or tradition. .

FINAL WORDS Terroir is a complicated concept with multiple facets. And it’s reasonable to think that it affects taste, given the differences you can experience in wines made from the same grape variety. Whether you believe in it or not, it’s a fun thing to think about it. And it’s even more fun to do so while enjoying a good glass of wine. 

Could we then say: set or system of environmental factors that affect the quality of a person. 

I think in this day and age society struggles with the complexity that is involved in the recipe of place and country, I think todays people like things minimalised and single facetted which is a bit odd when you think of the incredibly complex algorithms that subconsciously rule their lives. 

A need to be able to compartmentalise and pigeonhole things, so that they can rest easy with no loose ends or strain their brain comprehending the nuances of place. The recipe is not hard and fast, the value of the ingredients will fluctuate in response to the pulls of the where and when and why and what of place. 

 I remember wandering around the bottom end of the south island and feeling a very strong and almost weird (in a nice way) feeling of being at home and connectedness. unbeknownst to me there where ingredients in that place that aligned to my own roots and connected to elements within my being that where forged from my own birthplace. 

I think maybe there is a chance of devaluing the sense of place by trying to define it. Just a muse.

N ... Consultant placemaker on kanamalukaTAMAR