In The Influence of Place, J.E Malpas talks of the human connection to place. Malpas talks of Aboriginal Australians, poets and writers who have formed deep connections with place.

While there are still indigenous groups, writers and dare I say it, hippies, that feel an overwhelming connection to place, I wonder if over time this romantic connection has been lost.

I have lived in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne my whole life. While I can see the difference between my suburb, Mitcham, and a suburb such as Camberwell, I do feel as if my home could be lifted and out down in any suburb of any Australian city and I would live a very similar life to the one I do now.

I do not feel a connection to place. I am fond of my home, of my quiet street and the parkland I am surrounded by, but there is no deeper connection. When I have travelled I have felt that I would like to live in certain cities, but it has never been more than ‘I would fit in with the culture here’.

Malpas mentions that a modern connection to place may stem from our interactions with the world around us, people and things. Every place I have been, that I have yearned to go back to, has been human made. New York, the city I stayed in when I did an exchange in Germany. While I love nature (I am a hiker), I have never felt a connection to a purely natural place. Sure, they’re beautiful and peaceful and unique, but a national park does not hold the same appeal for me.

Maybe I am the exception, but human connection with place, in the modern world seem to stem from humans and human made things.