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Community Workshop: “Thinking About Place”
October 13, 2021 @ 6:30 pm - 8:15 pm MDT
Workshop Details
Gertrude Stein’s “there is no there there” has been used as a description for placeless spaces. By contrast, place has some kind of “there” going on. But what is this? What exactly is “place”? There are lots of ways to think about it. Here we’ll be thinking about “place” in terms of our urban outdoors.
When we get that Helena “sense of place” out there, what’s going on? What are we sensing? Is it urban design — deliberate “place-making” on somebody’s part? Is it a lucky accident? Something else? If it’s a mix of those, what’s the ratio? To what extent is deliberate place-making a matter of knowing a lucky accident (and/or other variables)? When can urban design be called “place-making” at all?
This is an unruly bunch of questions, as is to be expected when thinking about something as ill-defined as
“place.” Unruly questions, though, can be fun, and even if they don’t lead to a hard-set definition, they can, in the case of Helena’s urban outdoors, lead to something useful — a shared, or at least better clarified and articulated vision and use of a Helena-specific, vocabulary and frame of reference — a basis, maybe, for practical understanding.
That’s what the Thinking About Place project is about.
To prepare for this workshop, please download our walking guides & 1 or more of the site-specific walking notes prepared by Dennis and explore Helena by foot at some point over the next few weeks before the workshop. Each of the walking notes includes observations and things to think about relative to a “sense of place.” Please jot down your own notes as you go along and bring those with you to the workshop.
Some questions we might consider in this workshop include:
- What are authentic temporal elements of “place” — historic time as shown in architecture and other aspects of urban form, and geologic “deep time” shown in outcropping bedrock and the shape of the land?
- What about the shape of the land, distant or within walking distance or underfoot? what about visual juxtaposition of our built landscape with our undeveloped one? Where do in-town assertions of topography result in lucky accidents? (There are some fun examples of this)
- How do the shapes of our urban spaces, and the ways they interconnect, determine how we experience “place”? How do walkable sightlines — designed or accidental — work?
- What’s the place-making role of “street life”? If parts of the Helena outdoors regularly attract lots of foot
traffic and outdoor gatherings, what’s the attraction? What’s the role of walkable interconnectivity? - How do we manage tension between standard urban-development practice and a desire to keep Helena “peculiarity of place”? Can that desire be an element of “green” urban environmentalism?
- What would you add?
When & Where
This workshop led by Dennis McCahon will take place indoors in the Conference Center (in Reeder’s Alley) on Wednesday, October 13th from 6:30pm-8:15pm.
Workshop Details
Date: Wednesday, October 13th
Time: 6:30pm – 8:15pm MT
Where: 101 Reeder’s Alley (Conference Center)
Registration Info
RSVP: Click Here!
Cost: Free (Donations Welcome)
Other: Light Snacks & Hot Tea Provided
Workshop Leader
A fourth-generation Helenan, self-taught artist, and former Helena city planner, Dennis has been fascinated by Helena’s architecture for decades. His interests are wide-ranging and deep. Dennis can often be seen walking the trails and streets of Helena, contemplating big ideas about our natural and built environments, history, and art. A self-described urban design geek, Dennis offers a unique “urban environmentalist” perspective — which he defines as a perspective informed by an interest in “walkability” and the “preservation of habitat for curious pedestrians.”
RSVP Here
Make a Donation Here
Our philosophy workshops are FREE. That said, for those who still have the steady income to do so in these trying times, we could really use your financial support right now. Donations help to cover workshop leader honorariums, implementation, and resource archiving, as well as community workshop scholarships for those in need. You can make a donation by clicking here or on the button above. For those facing more challenging financial circumstances, we ask that you please try to “pay it forward” with acts of kindness for your neighbors and community.
