The Making of Place: A Sociological Analysis of Milton Keynes

This essay delves into the concept of 'sense of place' in urban environments, using Milton Keynes as a case study to explore the elements that transform a geographical location into a meaningful space. The essay argues that factors such as legal frameworks, economic opportunities, social and cultural characteristics, and the city's image contribute significantly to a city's sense of place. It examines how legal frameworks, economic incentives, and social dynamics shape the experiences of residents and visitors, highlighting the importance of creating a unique identity to attract and retain people. The essay also emphasizes the need for new cities to develop unique virtues, including strong economic capabilities, adequate social amenities, and robust legal systems, to establish a strong sense of place. The essay references multiple sources to support its claims, providing a comprehensive analysis of the issue. Desklib provides access to this and other academic resources.

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Planning History and Theory
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Cities such as Milton Keynes are often derided for being 'fake' and 'sterile.' Aside from time,
what is required to give a new city a sense of place? And why is it so often deemed necessary?
Refer to a minimum of one case study in your response.
A sense of place accounts for what makes a geographical location worth. Multiple
researchers and planners have tried as much as possible to analyze why cities are appealing to
businesses, residents, and visitors. The common elements used to rank cities include
sustainability, efficiency, and level of innovation. Thus, the essay encapsulates how aspects such
as legal frameworks, economic pull, and rapid development contribute to the sense of place,
especially in the case study of Milton Keynes.
Strong social and cultural characteristics enhance the sense of place. In simple terms, the
sense of place is attributed to the way individuals conjure in a new city with contradicting
emotions (Chapin III, & Knapp,2015). The point is that cities have multiple groups that have
different values and norms. These groups ought to have key aspects that must be recognized by
other communities. For the city to have a sense of place, then it means the residents should be
well coming as well having other characters that influence the well-being virtues. Masterson et
al (2017) cited that sense of place is induced by those positive attributes we have to that place.
On the other hand, the legal frameworks in a place induce a sense of place. A new city
ought to have a favorable legal framework. The point is those customary units are subject to the
rule of law. In most of the cities, we have law base institutions that help in forcing the rules and
regulations. For this matter, it becomes easy for people to value those cities with robust legal
frameworks (Minoia, 2017). Besides, the customary units leads to the massive growth of the city.
This happens especially when the issue of the economy comes in. Most of the investors want to

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invest more, especially in those cities that have robust legal frameworks. These statutory bodies
make sense of place as many people are willing to stay or work in a safe place.
Besides, the economic pull is attributed to those business-related capabilities of a place.
The presence of transport, industries, and communication networks in a new city impart the
sense of place. The idea is that transport systems are the crucial elements that aid in the
movement of people, goods, and services in and outside the city (Chapin III & Knapp, 2015).
This makes it easy for a large number to migrate to these cities in search of jobs or for personal
desires and motives.
Moreover, a sense of place is a way of creating the right image for a specified location.
The excellent icon portrayed by new cities serves as a unique opportunity for development
(Massey 2012). A sense of place will allow the public to realize the benefits of coming from a
particular area. This induces growth, since more industries will be established. Besides, active
transport networks are an advantage for those new cities as they tend to fuel the economy
(Hausmann et al 2016).
A sense of place is necessary since it gives a place meaning. Hausmann et al (2016) cities
that sense of place is made up of the various qualities and characteristics that are unique all the
time. The meaning attributed to these places makes them different from other places. Besides,
the sense of place helps cities to care for the crucial surroundings. According to Massey (2012),
planners need to concentrate more on defining those developing features that will make a place
unique. This will include drawing the appropriate boundaries, thus defending the resources
belonging to the city for competitive advantage.

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Besides, the sense of place is a new way of making a place to be known by a large
number of people. Piko, (2015) cites that the more the city looks or feels like other cities, the less
reason for people to visit it. On the other hand, if a city enhances its uniqueness either through
cultural aspects, natural features, and archeological artifacts, the higher the chances of getting
more visitors. For example, there are cities such as Paris in France that have unique
characteristics. Most of the traits possessed by Paris makes sense of place, thus receiving more
than 27 million visitors each year.
To sum up, new cities should have unique virtues that will help them to have a sense of
place. The point is there must be something unique that will make the city well know off. Most
of the cities have been attributed to strong economic capabilities, the presence of adequate social
amenities, and the availability of legal frameworks. All these elements induce a sense of place to
cities, thus helping them enjoy aspects attributed to developments.

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References
Chapin III, F. S., & Knapp, C. N. (2015). Sense of place: A process for identifying and
negotiating potentially contested visions of sustainability. Environmental Science &
Policy, 53, 38-46.
Hausmann, A., Slotow, R. O. B., Burns, J. K., & Di Minin, E. (2016). The ecosystem service of
sense of place: benefits for human well-being and biodiversity
conservation. Environmental conservation, 43(2), 117-127.
Massey, D. (2012). Power-geometry and a progressive sense of place. In Mapping the
futures (pp. 75-85). Routledge.
Masterson, V. A., Stedman, R. C., Enqvist, J., Tengö, M., Giusti, M., Wahl, D., & Svedin, U.
(2017). The contribution of sense of place to social-ecological systems research: a review
and research agenda. Ecology and Society, 22(1).
Minoia, P. (2017). Venice reshaped? Tourist gentrification and sense of place. In Tourism in the
City (pp. 261-274). Springer, Cham.
Piko, L. (2015). Milton Keynes and the Liquid Landscape, 1967–78. Landscape Review, 16(1).

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