Wash Ivanovic, G., 2016.

Clustering Places

The concept of place is one of the many unclear complexities which arise when we study our relationship with the built environment, and no ultimate definition can be found for it. Instead, the many available distinctions are coming from a variety of elds, generally reinforcing the idea that place is not a purely spatial phenomenon, or perhaps has been relegated to a concept on which we can theorize about but not much else can be done. While a given place is experienced differently by each individual (individual scheme of a place), this paper argues that there is also a "common scheme of a place" and proposes a methodology for identifying and measuring the concrete components that take part in creating this common scheme, so these components could be quantified and geographically represented. The methodology was tested through a case study in Ueno Park, Tokyo, where it was possible to create a place-database of the park. Later, by using cluster analysis and hierarchical dendrograms we were able to generate maps of the park showing the different levels of linkage between its places. The conclusions indicate that some aspects of the concept of place can be objectively understood and geographically represented, and this information has the potential for being incorporated as a concrete coordinate for architectural and urban design.