Cultivating a deeper awareness of the power of place

You don’t have to be mystical or religious to find that certain places have a special pull or significance. Some people might claim an attachment to a place or feel there’s something that a particular location or building has to impart to them. Others may experience a sense of surrendering to a place or of belonging there. Occasionally, this can be a collective or community experience – as with places of pilgrimage and sacred sites. Similarly, great rocks, mountain peaks, burial sites, lakes and springs, and confluences of water and sky often have a kind of gravitas or rarefied atmosphere that inspires reverence.

Most countries have their awesome places. For example, Sedona, Arizona, in the US, St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy, the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, Stonehenge in England and Delphi in Greece. There are, of course, numerous spiritual sites that are culturally important to the indigenous peoples of North America, Australia and New Zealand, and others that are precious to faith groups all over the world.

Memories and monuments But the pull of place goes beyond spirituality. There’s much interest, for example, in the way contemporary urban design – both buildings and open spaces – can foster group identity and offer restorative space. These are often key considerations for city planners. A religious building, for example, builds a sense of community and continuity with those who have gone before. A war memorial can be a source of national reflection. A communal monument can bring shared solidarity.