Developing a Sense of Place

Abstract

This chapter explores the theoretical foundations of what is meant by a sense of place, and the challenges and opportunities that developing a sense of place brings to outdoor education now and in the future. We take an international perspective based on a shared understanding of our roles as practicing university outdoor educators. Our discussion of sense of place in higher education is rooted in shared place-responsive teaching experiences in two locations: Plymouth, UK and Reykjavik, Iceland. We advocate for place-responsive education and encourages educators to take a critical view regarding human relationships with culture, time, and nature. A critical approach to outdoor education leads to reconstructing it as more than just activities and a focus on relations between self, others, and nature. It means at times slowing down and moving away from the fast and furious adrenaline-charged experiences and giving space to experiential, aesthetic, and more mindful embodied fieldwork experiences. In the foreseeable future, educators are challenged to look at nature as hyperreal and be open to embracing new, exciting and different ways of developing a sense of place.