 A
Sense of Place
30th June-1st July 2004
A two day experience brought people together from all over the UK, the
US, Japan and Africa to explore the elements that create places that people
love, that inspire, heal and delight. Designing and managing public open
space is as much about passion and emotion as it is about mowing schedules
and path gradients. Lars Stenberg from Sensory Trust who organised the
event remarked, “If we ignore or marginalise the sensuous and emotive
in our parks and public spaces then we quickly end up with spaces that
are unloved and irrelevant”.
The ambitious venues from a dome, to a cavern, to one of the UK’s
biggest outdoor visitor attractions, to a theatre, on a ferry in the rain,
to end in a spectacular park and garden, embodied the theme of the event.
At the first venue, Carnglaze Caverns, Peter Thoday
gave a brief but incisive keynote for the two days. He asked ‘how
do we create sense of place? How much of a sense of place is intellectual,
and how much emotional?’
 Next
up was David Kamp from Dirtworks PC in New York City.
David’s talk was inspirational as he described his work with accessible
public gardens and memorial landscapes, creating a sense of welcome, comfort
and safety.
Sue Hill, artistic director at the Eden Project talked
about place-specific theatre. Sense of place is as much about people and
activities as landscape. When she asked everyone to talk of a special
place, the cavern erupted with the sounds of memories relived.
Rona Weekes from Quest International focused on a single
sense: smell. How smell works, and why it has such strong associations
with memory and emotions. She brought scents with her, which were used
throughout the talk to evoke memory and explain sensory value in landscape.
At the Eden Project Tim Smit gave a powerful account,
tempered with his usual down-to-earth approach, of the development of
The Lost Gardens of Heligan and Eden Project. He highlighted a theme that
ran through so many of the talks – it’s not the money, it’s
the passion and will to succeed that determines success.
On day two at the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth, Hazel Stuteley
OBE gave an emotional presentation covering the  regeneration
of the Beacon Estate in Falmouth. The power that regaining a sense of
place, or community, can have for an area fragmented by crime, unemployment
and social problems was evident in Hazel’s presentation. She called
the people in that community ‘Trojan mice’, as it took just
a few of them to turn the whole place around.
Hazel was followed by Julia Cassim, Research Director
of the Helen Hamlyn Institute, RCA. Julia gave a salutary talk on engaging
with disabled people as design partners, rather than simply as users or
testers, in the development of products and environments. Julia illustrated
the dangers of designing spaces by dogmatically following guidelines and
pleaded for an approach that interpreted guidelines appropriate to place.
Richard Scott from Landlife took us through the history
of the pioneering Liverpool organisation dedicated to the development
of community through low cost wildflower planting. Sowing wildflower meadows
on brownfield sites has helped many communities in the Liverpool area
improve their health and quality of life.
 The
emotional rollercoaster ride of the day’s speakers was continued
by Donald Boddy. Donald took us through the philosophy
behind the design of the award-winning West Pennine Remembrance Park and
of his work in Zambia. Cemeteries should be designed to allow activities
such as celebration and contemplation and to aid the processes of grieving
and remembrance.
The regenerative plans for Plymouth itself were highlighted by Peter
Ford and Su Thompson from Plymouth City Council.
Su talked about the improvements in play provision and Peter quickly outlined
the Mackay vision for the centre of the city. The event ended at Mount
Edgcumbe Park, a Grade I listed landscape.
A publication
based on the conference proceedings is available from this web site.
Work experience at Sensory
Trust | Index | DDA
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