The Spirit of Place, Settlement Image and Settlement Marketing

Abstract

The concept "genius loci" is widely used, but it cannot be connected with only one discipline. Beside writings on literature it is also found in the conceptual sphere of post-modern architecture and sociology. This study tries to describe the different types of conceptual approaches, to interpret the phrase "the spirit of place" with the "language" of regional science, and to distinguish its meaning from the concepts of behavioural geography "settlement image" and "sense of place". In the understanding of regional science the spirit of place can be interpreted as a close connection of material and spiritual spaces. In the relation of internal and external spaces the internal space of spirit can also be examined, the spatial units of which are the geniuses. Unlike the "settlement image" and the "sense of place" the spirit of place can be experienced only in the given place and at the very moment. The meaning of "genius loci" is more transcendental and is more determined by local factors than by subjective ones.