Territoriality, place and space

Abstract

Space, place and territoriality are not only basic concepts to the discipline of geography. Geographical approach to the analysis of place is a task we need to foster in order to improve our understanding of the life‑worlds of others. The development of each individual, our 'self' builds on our relations to the realms of nature, social relations and meaning as these are united in places. The author maintains that society needs a geographical place analyses based on an understanding of individual relational space and demonstrates the ap­proach in a study of urban neighbourhoods. In order to find the bases for bet­ter planning models inhabitants were asked: What makes a place, your neigh­bourhood, a better place to live in? Four factors could be sorted out: the aes­thetic, the functional, the social and the individual. These factors are clearly related to the understanding of place as uniting the realms of nature, social relations and meaning.