Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Anthropology Theses Department of Anthropology 8-8-2005 Recovering a Sense of Place in the Edge City Michael Chance Page Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Page, Michael Chance, "Recovering a Sense of Place in the Edge City." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2005. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/5 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Anthropology at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RECOVERING A SENSE OF PLACE IN THE EDGE CITY by MICHAEL CHANCE PAGE Under the Direction of Susan M. Walcott ABSTRACT The edge city is often criticized as being a center of placelessness. It is the devaluation and commodification of place in contemporary approaches to urban design and planning that is stifling the prosperity of place identity and subsequently the ability for edge cites to create ‘a sense of place’. It is probable that a broadened understanding of the situational context and the role of human experience in place making can suggest alternatives to current practices that reduce place to location. Capturing the essence of place inspires superior strategies for producing place identity and a grasp on the meaning of how recovering ‘a sense of place’ is fundamental in turning edge cities from consumable space into real and lasting places. INDEX WORDS: Sense of place, Place identity, Urban planning, Edge cities RECOVERING A SENSE OF PLACE IN THE EDGE CITY by MICHAEL CHANCE PAGE A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Georgia State University 2005 Copyright by Michael Chance Page 2005 RECOVERING A SENSE OF PLACE IN THE EDGE CITY by MICHAEL CHANCE PAGE Major Professor: Susan M. Walcott Committee: Truman A. Hartshorn Charles L. Jaret Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University August 2005 DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to the memory of my father, William Michael Page (1944-2004) v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Susan Walcott, Truman Hartshorn, and Charles Jaret for their intellectual guidance and support in my pursuit of this research. I am particularly indebted to Susan Walcott who encouraged me to pursue this degree, helped me gain professional focus, and served as my mentor over the past few years. Further, I would like to thank the following professors of the Department of Anthropology and Geography at Georgia State University who inspired my interests in geography and cartography, Jeremy Crampton, Borden Dent, Truman Hartshorn, Paul Knapp, and Dona Stewart. It should also be known that I could not have completed this thesis without the unwavering support of my family. I would like to thank the grandparents Fiona Page, Don Collier, and Janet Towslee for their time and assistance, my wife Rebecca for her patience and encouragement, and my children James, Camden, Ethan, and Helen for their beneficence. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..……………………………………….......................…….…….....v LIST OF TABLES.……..…………………………………….……….….......................……....ix LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………….……….......................…………x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Objective of the research…………………........................…………..1 1.2 Study area and spatial framework…...………........................……......5 1.3 Geography and the study of place…………........................………….7 2 SENSE OF PLACE AND EDGE CITIES 2.1 Spatial scales of place…………………….…….......................….....10 2.2 Place and space………..………………..........................………...…12 2.3 The character and meaning of place………………...........................18 2.4 Image and experience………………….………........................…….22 2.5 History and authenticity……………………........................…….......32 2.6 An end for place……………………………………...........................35 2.7 Sense of place………………………………........................…..……37 2.8 Why edge cities?……………………………........................………..40 vii 3 DATA AND METHODOLOGY 3.1 Data…………….…………..…………………........................……...45 3.2 Methodology…………………….…..………........................……….46 4 PERIMETER CENTER 4.1 Historical development…………...………........................………….51 4.2 A strategic location…...…………………………........................…...54 4.3 Atlanta’s multinucleated landscape..................….........................…..57 4.4 Perimeter Center and the regional economy..……..............................62 4.5 Retrofitting Perimeter Center…………………….........................…..67 5 EVIDENCE FROM PERIMETER CENTER 5.1 Urban change..………………………………….........................……72 5.2 Edge city problems remain.……………………….........................…91 5.3 Economic prospecting…………………….………............................95 5.4 Perimeter as a place……………………….........................………....97 5.5 Public Perspective………………………..........................….……...108 6 CONCLUSION 6.1 Recovering a sense of place………..........................……….………117 6.2 The course of place………….........................………….…...……...119 6.3 Conclusion…………………….……….…...……............................121 6.4 Future research…………………….…..................................………124 viii REFERENCES…………………………………….............................……….……….…...…..126 APPENDICES A INTERVIEW QUESTIONS…………...………….............................………...130 ix LIST OF TABLES TABLE Page 1 Pragmatic, perceptual, and existential spaces in Relph’s 1976 Place and Placelessness…………………………………………...........................…..….16 2 Architectural, cognitive and abstract spaces in Relph’s 1976 Place and Placelessness…………………………………...………............................…...17 3 Orum and Chen’s sociological vision of place………..………..........................………..22 4 Relph’s outsider modes of experience…………………….............................…………..25 5 Relph’s insider modes of experience………………………...…..........................………26 6 Barnett’s parking space economics………………...….……..........................……….….42 7 Erickson’s growth model of the suburban space economy…...……….............................59 8 Hartshorn and Muller’s growth model…….………….…………..........................……...61 9 Office space among the top ten edge cities in Office Space, Top Ten Edge Cities…………………………………………..........................……...….63 10 Variables used in Walcott’s survey…………………………............................…………65 11 Racial breakdown of Perimeter Center by census block...................................................75 x LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE Page 1 MARTA Sandy Springs Station parking deck………………………...........................…42 2 Overview map of Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)……..............................55 3 Major Atlanta Centers…………………………..……………………..............................59 4 Map of Perimeter Center as illustrated by census tract….……….…...........................….74 5 Map of Perimeter Center as illustrated by census block……………................................74 6 Perimeter Summit Parkway………………..……………….........................……….…...77 7 Split-level renovated house built in the early 1960s…..……….........................….……..79 8 Ranch-style house originally built in the early 1970s..…………….….........................…79 9 House in same subdivision as Figure 7 removed for new development............................80 10 New home being built in nearby older subdivision…………………...............................80 11 The former site of Bell South offices………...………………….........................…….....81 12 The removal of a vacant office building…………………………..…........................…..81 13 New construction……...………………………………………........................……..…..82 14 A major home improvement warehouse and a wholesale membership club.....................83 15 Perimeter Mall facing Ashford-Dunwoody Rd………........................……………..……85 16 Map of location of “fly-over” bridge.………..……………........................………..……86 17 Southern site of “fly-over” bridge…………………………….....….........................……87 18 Northern site of “fly-over” bridge……….………………………….…........................…88 19 Northern construction site of “fly-over” bridge…….....………........................….……...88 20 Hammond Drive…………………………………………..........................…….………..89 21 Intersection Improvements……....……………………..........................……….………..90 xi 22 A Perimeter Center shuttle…………...……..........................……………….…………...93 23 Twin towers view from Dunwoody MARTA station…….........................…….………102 24 Northern view from Dunwoody MARTA station……………..........................………..102 1 1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Objective of the research As the contemporary urban landscape continues to sprawl further out from the central city, new urban centers crop up on the periphery. These new urban centers are unique, each marked by regional differences, age of progression, and their specific geographical context. These new urban centers also share many characteristics from their birth owing to the dominant automobile-based transportation system, social/lifestyle ideals, and economic drive. Several interrelated objectives of this research center on theories of place and the phenomena of urban change. The research explores theories of place with specific focus on “sense