Place is a Perceptual Intersection
The word 'place' is loaded with complexity -- by deeming something a place it becomes fixed and thus monumental. If a place is not understood as a place then what is it? -- insert imagination here -- Yet places become places when people believe in them -- but the implications of 'placeness' in terms of fixity are negative, though in terms of 'belief', civic engagement, pride ... they are positive.
When working at the intersection of branding and real estate development we find the overt manipulation of place marketing fundamentally unsettling but also compelling. Compelling because place is embedded in perception and perception is embedded in one's personal history, cultural history, and the media. The depth and resonance of place on a psyche and a culture is what excites us.
More than a physicality, place is an perceptual intersection.