What does 'place' mean in geography?

When we think of places in geography, there are different ways of describing places because of the different ideas that have arisen when trying to define places. Three key ways of describing a place are location, locale and sense of place.
Location refers to the geographical positioning of a place. This means that a place can be defined by coordinates on a map, implying that a place can be reduced to a set of numbers. Location is thus an objective way of defining what a place is. When we think of a locale, we are referring to a place as defined by what happens in that place, often being sets of social interactions or processes that occur somewhere because it is in a certain place. Finally, sense of place refers to the subjectivity associated with a place in the mind of the individual - this may not arise in all places. Sense of place defines a place by the personal connections and attachments that the individual forms with a place often through lived experience and as a result, places take on a certain meaning for the individual.
To put all of this in context, take, for example, your school. Your school as a location is a set of coordinates on a map, on a certain road, in a certain geographical position. As a locale, however, your school is a place of education - here, teaching takes place; there are teachers that teach and students that learn; students behave in a certain way because they are at school and not at home. The sense of place you may attribute to school is subjective in nature and is thus determined by you, though it could be, for example, that you enjoy school because you like learning and have made good friends there. In this way, school holds a happy place in your mind and thus the sense of place surrounding school is of fond memories, happy times and being sociable as well as studying.

Answered by Tom W. Geography tutor

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