Question #2

Question #2:

How does Jackson define space vs land? how does he relate this to the road? how does this effect public and private place-making?

Jackson defines space as a sense of place, which is the result of habit or custom. He describes a sense of place as "genius loci" that it means the "guardian divinity of that place." Jackson feels that a space is defined by an event or by the result of habit or custom, like the same schedule. He doesn't think that space and land are the same, but that space can be defined by something other than area. Land, he says, wasn't set aside in the beginning for anything special. Land was formed into towns, using a grid with public squares or a main commercial street that acted as the public space. The land became an ideal possession and people wanted their own "space" within the land, so they would buy land far away from town to have a secret hideaway. Jackson shows that eastern towns were designed with public squares to be "space" within the buildings for relief, but western towns were designed without these spaces. The public "space" in western towns was the main street where people crossed paths and gathered.