May 2022 Philosophy Walk: “Place, Climate Change & Urban Design – Some Practical Applications”

In this walk featuring Dennis McCahon and Patrick Judge, we’ll explore the connections between Helena’s “sense of place,” climate change, and urban design. Access info and photos here!

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Community Workshop: “Thinking About Place”

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.  In this workshop, we reflected upon Helena’s sense of “place” in terms of our urban outdoors. Learn more & access resources here!

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Community Workshop: “Thinking About Place”

Gertrude Stein’s “there is no there there” has been used as a description for placeless spaces. But what exactly is “place”? There are lots of ways to think about it. In this workshop led by Dennis McCahon 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? When can urban design be called “place-making” at all? This is an unruly bunch of questions. 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. Learn more, download the preparatory material & RSVP here!

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Philosophy Drive-In: Sense of Place (Short Films)

Part of our ongoing “Thinking About Place” project, this philosophy drive-in gathering will explore “sense of place” through a series short films & a podcast storytelling. Afterward, we’ll talk as a group about what things stood out as “ingredients” of place & how these track with our own perceptions & experiences. RSVP here!

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