John Brinckerhoff Jackson's 'A Sense Of Place'

John Brinckerhoff Jackson’s A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time discusses the term “a sense of place” and the increasing importance of a sense of time in today’s society. Jackson examines the role that a sense of place and a sense of time have by discussing the history of the phrase “sense of place” and the contemporary American landscape. Overall, Jackson writes about the loss of meaning of a sense of place in America today and about his interpretation of the significance of space and place by focusing on the fact that our sense of time is becoming a collective identity, even in distinct environments. He also focuses on the European versus American sense of place, as well as our deep longing to move away from the accepted sense of place and move to a place of solitude and contentment.
One important argument that Jackson makes is the loss of meaning of the sense …show more content…
In the beginning of the chapter, Jackson writes, “They [foreigners] remind us that in Europe every city has individuality, whereas in our country…they not only are lacking in architectural variety, they are lacking in landmarks and in unique neighborhoods. We are often asked how we who live in the midst of such monotony can have any sense of place.” To Europeans, a sense of place comes from the distinctiveness of your community, of what makes it unique from other neighborhoods. Furthermore, Jackson describes how much effort has been taken to accomplish the idea of giving areas a unique sense of place, and the result of this has been that the monotony of a place has been eliminated by a sense of recurring events. European individuality is an important part of their sense of place, but to Jackson a sense of place can be described in two different ways; it is something that can be created over time through habits or customs, or it can be our response to features that already exist, natural or