Place making in Los Angeles: Constructing a sense of place out of ordinary urban space through symbolic and social means (California)

How do people create a sense of place out of the ordinary spatial environments of the city? What is the relationship between the material things of space and the experiential qualities of place? And what is the relationship between the common elements of everyday life—identity, experience, community—and the phenomenon of place? This dissertation provides answers to these broad questions by examining the manner by which people create a sense of place out of ordinary and un-place-like urban spaces. The data for this qualitative study are drawn from interviews of people living in Palms, a part of West Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California. The analysis focuses on the dual nature of the place image as something composed of both material and ideational elements. Findings are organized into three sections. The first examines the content of the place image, focusing on the material components of place but also including ideational elements such as stories, symbols, and normative divisions. Among other findings, this section demonstrates that the content of a place image is only loosely related to the concrete environment it purports to describe. The second section analyzes the underlying though often invisible ideational structures of the place image. Drawing on narrative analysis and semiotics, this section shows how content elements are organized in patterned ways, and explains how the structural characteristics of place images ensure that they are flexible and durable at the same time. Finally, the third section explores the relationship between a sense of place and a sense of self and argues that place is often autobiographical.