1. In your neighborhood or town, is there a ‘center’ that you can visit, a purposefully designed public site or space? If you live on or near campus, you have many options here. Visit this ‘center’ and analyze it using David Summers’ thinking about how place is created. How many of the features of place that Summers identifies are evident in the site you visit: center, boundary, alignment, path, elevation, orientation, periphery, threshold, liminality?
Describe how these features function in the site you visit. 2. Using David Summers’ definition of a center, think about a place that is meaningful to you personally. In what ways can this place be considered a ‘center’? How is it marked off or bounded?
How is facture used to give the place special significance? Does it enable you to feel as if you are part of a group or community? What is the physical experience of visiting this site in person like? 3.We considered the site of Cordoba this week from a diachronic perspective. However, we focused on Teotihuacan and the Forbidden City more from a synchronic perspective. What questions do you have about the broader histories of these other sites?
