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Topophilia

Journey from home, one day : February 2007

Came across the word Topophilia which translates from the Greek as “a love of place.”

According to Wikipedia.org: It is a term used to describe the strong sense of place or identity among certain peoples, and combines the Greek word topo- or top-, meaning place, with the ending -philia, meaning love of/for.

It was coined by Chinese-American geographer Yi-Fu Tuan in his 1974 book entitled Topophilia: a study of environmental perception, attitudes, and values. Tuan claims that topophilia "can be defined widely so as to include all emotional connections between physical environment and human beings."

In Space and Place : The Perspective of Experience, Tuan contends that a space requires a movement from a place to another place. Similarly, a place requires a space to be a place. Hence, the two notions are co-dependent.