Place and property - Rethinking a relationship

Dave Havermans, Wim J.M. Heijs and Jos J.A.M. Smeets

ERES from European Real Estate Society (ERES)

Abstract: In real estate theory ëplaceí and ëpropertyí are considered as two sides of a coin. ëPlaceí is seen as an artifact or as land, buildings and other fixed improvements on it. ëPropertyí is seen as the rights and duties of ownership. In this paper ëplaceí is conceived in a broader sense. Place is not merely a set of physical features, but ñ following Relph and Canter ñ comprises on the one hand observable activities and functions and on the other hand meanings and symbols as well. Activities refer to the behavior associated with, or intended to be housed in, a specific location. Meanings are related to peopleís conceptions and descriptions of these activities in that physical environment. Besides, several scales can be distinguished (e.g. an estate, a neighborhood, etc.). This theoretical paper discusses the dialectical relation between place and property. It is stated that property has influence on, and is influenced by, all three dimensions of place. In order to be able to describe this relation we first will examine the concepts of place and property separately. After this, the relations between property and each of the three dimensions of place will be analyzed. Firstly, we will explore how property is related to the physical features of a given locus. Secondly, we go into the relation between activities and property in places. Finally, we will investigate the most complex dimension: the influence of property on the way users give meaning to their place. The paper ends with a discussion on the dialectical relation between place and property and the consequence for real estate management and development.

JEL-codes: R3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-01-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://eres.architexturez.net/doc/oai-eres-id-eres2011-214 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2011_214

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in ERES from European Real Estate Society (ERES) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Architexturez Imprints ().