Sense_of_Place

Term Assignment #1 Places apply a strong influence, for better or worse, on people’s physical well-being, their opportunities, and their lifestyle choices. The place in which a human being lives in is the daily setting in which they wake up to everyday of their lives. These settings provide a base and an influence on people, which results into shaping who and what they are today. The place in which people grow up in or live in creates symbols of memory’s that affects a person emotionally, whether it is positive or negative memories. Places such as your neighborhood, pizza place, and basketball court may all be symbols of memories to you which are constructed by your own mind due to the experiences you have had in your life. These same places are looked at in a different way by everybody else based on their own personal experience. There are three different places in my life that I have moved into and settled down. The first place would be in North York, Toronto in the area of Jane St. and Finch Avenue. This place of Jane and Finch has a symbol by outsiders and even people who live in this region as a corrupted, high crime rate, and poor area. I lived in this neighborhood in a building with three rooms and a total of seven people in my family. This part of my life was an experience that made me understand the values and importance of education, money, family, etc. The second place I lived in right after I moved from Jane and Finch was Springdale in Brampton. This place was characterized as a quiet, safe, and brand new area to start a new life. I lived in a small house with four bedrooms and still a total of seven people in my family. This part of my life was a whole new chapter for me and allowed me to be a “normal” kid and absorb the values of a “normal” kid’s life. The third and final place that I moved to is Castlemore in Brampton. This place is symbolized as a rich, quiet, high-class area for people who are more fortunate than others in Brampton. I lived in a big house with four bedrooms although still a total of seven people in my family. This part of my life was the maturing stage and is where I really developed my personality and was involved in more adult like situations. All three of these places played a key role in developing and influencing who I am as a person today and why I choose this path. I was born in Calgary, Alberta on September 28, 1991. I lived in Calgary for about two years and moved to the area of Jane and Finch in Toronto, Ontario. I lived in Jane and Finch from the ages of two to eight. I lived in a building right off of Jane Street which consisted of two bathrooms and three bedrooms. I have a mother and a father and four older sisters who lived with me. Living in a less fortunate area that consisted of high crime rates and poverty levels really made me understand the importance of life. As a child I witnessed a lot of gang fights, drug abuse, sexual assault, gun fights, etc. Witnessing this as a child really scared me and made me hope and pray that I do not get involved in any of these actions. My parents consistently reminded me that I was not allowed to be outside when it is dark, not allowed to walk anywhere alone, and never to enter another area even if it is around my own neighborhood. The warnings from my parents made me aware of how corrupted and scary this area was. I then promised myself that I would never result or be influenced by anybody to be involved in any criminal activities. I obviously lived in this type of area because at the time my parents were not financially stable. I shared a room with two of my sisters and really just did not have any type of personal space at all. I was always reminded to use household resources carefully and efficiently. I would never leave the water running or would never turn on the lights when not needed. Living in these types of conditions where I was forced to conserve money and learn the value of a dollar taught me how important money is and how to be efficient. As a child growing up in this type of area I was not exposed to video games and outdoor activities. I was strictly kept in my house, at school, or inside one of my friends house where their parents are present at all times. I would hardly ever go outside to play basketball or any other type of game because there was always people abusing drugs or causing problems which made my parents strict and scared. This place of Jane and Finch did not allow me to have a “normal” kid’s life in where I could go outside and play and have video games to always be busy with. I believe that even though I was very young, living in this area forced my mind to mature and adapt to the place because of what I was offered. I went to Calico elementary school and I was constantly reminded by my teachers to never talk to strangers, never be influenced negatively by anyone, and to always stay in school. The constant reminder put an emphasis on my mind in how important education is because I witnessed an area of high poverty levels and I did not want to live that lifestyle my whole life. I always felt I should put forth a strong effort towards my education and try to put an extra effort in my work, because I did not want to end up like anyone in this area. Witnessing the corruption in this area scared me as a child but also made me a strong individual because it pushed me to be the best I can be. I felt that I have seen so much corruption that it does not bother me anymore and that I know I will not allow anyone to influence me in a negative way. Jane and Finch was a multicultural society although it was predominately African American. Living in this neighborhood influenced me to adapt to their social norms and believe how they dressed and spoke was normal. If I was to give a description for both males and females and based on what four out of five people wore, it would be for male’s baggy clothes, chains, basketball shoes, and fitted hats. For females it would be baggy clothes or very tight clothes with emphasis on the brand of their clothing. Seeing the way people dressed and witnessing their norms influenced me to adapt in such ways and feel it was a normal way of life. In conclusion Jane and Finch was a place in my life that has taught me the value of education, money, and allowed me to understand the life of a low income family. I was in grade four when I moved to my new house in Springdale, Brampton. I lived on 6 Meadowglade Road and I finally got the experience of living in a house where we had somewhat of our own space. As a kid when I was told we were moving to Brampton I had no idea where that was because I was so restricted to just my own neighborhood. Brampton had a more positive atmosphere and there were a lot less criminal activities. It was a whole new scene for me and I was excited but upset at the same time. Living in this area allowed me to feel safer when I would go outside, and for my parents to allow me to be outdoors. This was a positive impact for me because it allowed me to be involved in more outdoor activities where I could go ride my bike and play basketball for example. Springdale was a whole new change for me and it gave me the opportunity to live a “normal” kid’s life. Since I was allowed to go to different neighborhoods and be out for a longer time it allowed me to become more socially involved, create more friends, and physically active. Brampton also had a lot more nature which made me want to go outside and enjoy the weather and outdoors. Jane and Finch consisted mostly of small town housing and large buildings with hardly any signs of nature around. Springdale was a lot more multicultural then Jane and Finch. The population of African American people greatly decreased when I moved to Brampton and the South Asian community was the majority of people. As the years went on I slowly adapted to the new atmosphere and accepted different social norms. The way I spoke and somewhat they way I dressed also changed when I moved to Brampton. I wore more baggy clothing and dressed how people would in Jane and Finch, although people around me did not dress as baggy as I did so with time I also started to dress differently. I shared a room with one of my sisters and she was the youngest sister that I had. She was one year older than me and I was a lot closer to her then any of my other siblings. Sharing a room with her and growing up in the same room allowed me to understand the real differences between female’s emotions and males emotions. She would always speak to me about how females think and how they feel in certain situations. This allowed me to understand females a lot more and have a greater respect for them. I ended up living in Springdale until I graduated from grade eight and had my first girlfriend in grade seven. I had a very strong sense of place attachment to my middle school because it was the place where I had my first girlfriend and I had strong feelings for that female. An author by the name of Lynne C. Manzo said that place attachment plays a key role in community participation and planning. She also included that “these attachments can motivate cooperative efforts to improve one’s community.” I feel that she is correct because people in a community over time start to develop an attachment to their neighborhood or city. If people are attached to their neighborhood and city, they only want what’s best and it motivates people to participate in urban planning. Overall Springdale allowed me to experience a whole new life in which I was comfortable living in my own area. It also allowed me to become more social and physically active. Castlemore, Brampton was the last place that I have moved in my life. I lived at 19 Richgrove Drive in a 3500 square foot house. The neighborhood was very quiet and rich so people were more to themselves and strict. I moved into this house in the summer of grade eight going to high school. Moving to Castlemore was something that I really hated. All of my friends that I had in Springdale since I was in grade four were going to one high school and now that I moved I was forced to go to high school in Bolton. I attended Humberview Secondary School where the atmosphere was completely different from anywhere in Brampton. Bolton was not a multicultural area because it was mostly dominated by Caucasian people. I was not use to their societal norms and at the age of entering high school I was stubborn and did not want to adapt anymore. I did not know a single person in the whole school and felt like an outcast. Moving to Castlemore forced me to attend this high school where I was a lot less social and became more lonely and self-reliant. As a result of being lonelier and having more time to myself I turned most of my attention to my studies. I was not as social with everyone and had a lot of free time on my mind so I used that time wisely and thought I might as well put more effort into my education. I then moved high schools again to Sandalwood Heights Secondary School where all of my friends from Springdale were all attending. This was a brand new high school that was built because of the over populated area in Brampton. The high school started from grade nine to grade eleven and continued to grade twelve the following year. I was in grade eleven when the school opened so my friends and I were the oldest in the school. Seeing all of my friends again in the same high school and some friends I made at Humberview together made me feel a lot more confident about myself and a lot more socially involved. I will always remember Sandalwood Heights as my favorite place to be because I felt so comfortable there and never had any types of problems what so ever. In the first year of Sandalwood when I was in grade eleven I met my second girlfriend. I had a great deal of place attachment to Sandalwood Secondary School because when driving by or even hearing the school’s name reminds me of a lot of good times and my girlfriend because currently I still am in a relationship with her. An author by the name of Daniel R. Williams said “that the value an individual attaches to a certain object or place cannot be explained solely by its "functional" properties”. I agree with this concept because I feel a sense of place attachment to certain places such as schools, basketball courts, and plazas not because of what they consist of but because of the experiences that I have had there. Moving to Castlemore created an opportunity for me to create some new friends, go to school in a completely different atmosphere then what I am used to, and to learn to become more focused on my education due to the fact that I was more alone and had time to reflect to my past and how I wanted to be successful. REFERENCES Manzo, L. C. (2006). Finding Common Ground. Planning and Literature, 7, 335-350. Knox, P. L., Marston, S. A., & Nash, A. E. (2010). Human Geography Places and regions in global context. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall. Williams, D. R. (1989). Some Preliminary Results. Measuring Place Attachment, 1, 20-28. “Who I Am Today: The Influence of Places I’ve Lived and Visited” By: Ramin Atta Seminar Number: 11 Seminar Leader: Michael Smith Course Code: GEOG 1F90