Theory’s Role in Placelessness

Amongst the range of forces that determine the built environment, the formalized process of urban design makes a small contribution. Within that process, the urban designer is required to respond to various and sometimes conflicting interests in the generation of plans and proposals – a negotiation that has been described as the symbolic attempt to express urban meaning in urban form. This chapter will propose that urban design theory captures urban meaning which is then reflected in the physical form of built environments. It will explore how spaces frequently deemed to be ‘placeless’ may in fact be a reflection of changes in urban meaning and suggest that qualities of placelessness can be linked to a particular theoretical perspective.