Experienced places and media places

What role does actually experiencing a place have developing a sense of attachment to a place?

Victorian explorers such as David Livingstone (searching for the source of the Nile in 1866) travelled to far locations in order to experience and know a place. Modern day explorers and travellers do the same.

It is interesting to explore the idea, however, that you have to physically go to a place to experience an emotional attachment to it.

Direct experience of a place can certainly create a sense of belonging, however transitory in nature. People who have travelled to a place are often able to describe the sounds, images and feelings they experienced there many years later. They have developed a ‘sense of place’ about the location.

The media often represents a place in a way which contrasts with our lived experiences of it. Publicity for tourism, feature films and estate agent fliers all have different functions and appeal to different groups of people. They have a particular purpose in their portrayal of a place and can differ quite markedly from statistical and other types of qualitative data.

Social media often gives a more realistic portrayal of a place, although these experiences are very individual and do not necessarily represent others’ sense of place.

Digital technology is further changing the way that people experience place. Locative media available on mobile phones uses GPS software to bring place-specific content and experiences to people. Whether the technology is used for geo-caching or as a dating app, the line between experienced place and virtual place is blurred.