Placemaking

when we find the convergence of where we belong and where we are encouraged or at least allowed to make a contribution, the magic happens.

The ongoing work of making the spaces in which we live cultivates a kind of alchemy, in which stronger links between people and place can arise.

We [also] build our sense of civic identity and opinions about government through social interactions. […] Our social capital — which Putnam defines as the overarching belief about society that facilitates co-operation — diminishes when we lose opportunities to engage with people outside of our regular social networks.

I used to romanticize a nomadic existence. I used to think it was a requisite for “finding myself”—to travel around untethered until I stumbled upon a realness in me. It makes me wince to think that I thought I could learn myself by untethering.

It took time for me to accept that where we are has as much to do with our formation as with whom and during what. Place is the one thing that always is. We are always somewhere. I have been without people but never without place. Perhaps that is why it is so easy to become numb to it.