The Soul of Place

What is it? Where do you find it? How can you help create it?

The 36th Anniversary Reunion of the Loeb Fellowship
Thursday, May 4th - Sunday, May 7th, 2006

Introduction

Nearly every Loeb Fellow, no matter the discipline, no matter the part of the world from which he or she hails, no matter the era of their Fellowship, has a special feeling about place. We are attracted to different types of places. We do different things in those places. And we play different roles in their creation, maintenance, preservation and celebration. But we love places. Whether it's Beacon Hill in Boston, or the Malecon in Havana, or Rock Creek Park in Washington, or the Embarcadero in San Francisco, or Times Square in New York or an isolated camping spot in Denali National Park or a street cafe in the 6th Arrondissement of Paris, we love places.

But why? What is it that attracts us to them? Why do we take particular notice of both the wonderful, inviting qualities and the negative, disquieting elements of the spaces we are in? Why is the Piazza Publico in Sienna widely regarded as one of the world's great public spaces while its offspring Boston City Hall Plaza is seen by most as a dismal failure? And what is the soul of a place? Webster uses phrases such as "immaterial essence, animating principle, activating cause and the quality that arouses emotion and sentiment" to define soul. Can great designers and planners give the places they create these qualities and thereby a "soul". Or can this happen only when these places are animated by citizens and events that nurture the development of an "animating principle" for a particular place?

We will explore these ideas through a keynote address given by Dolores Hayden, Professor of Architecture, Urbanism, and American Studies at Yale University and the author of The Power of Place as well as several moderated discussion sessions. The conversations other than the keynote address will help to give us an idea of what particular disciplines and constituencies think about this idea of the "Soul of a Place". They will involve such questions as:

What does nature tell us about this question? (landscape architects, environmentalists, ecologists, horticulturists, etc.)

What does philosophy tell us about this question? (philosophers, theologians, poets, artists)

What do designers tell us about this question? (architects, landscape architects, urban designers, planners, artists)

What do everyday citizens tell us about this question? (community development specialists, community organizers, journalists, social capital experts).

What do cultural workers tell us about this question?

And what about New Orleans and the Gulf Coast?
The Saturday session will be devoted to this conversation.

Many people have suggested that this must be a topic for our reunion. We have some people who have been involved in activities already along the Gulf Coast, and a number of others who have said they would like to be. The earlier conversations at this reunion should be a very useful foundation for a good discussion about how Loeb Fellows might make a positive contribution to the effort to rebuild this devastated part of our nation - a place that nearly everybody agrees has a vital and energizing soul.