As is mentioned in last section, place is a socially meaningful space. Therefore the setting of place involves people’s activities and experience (Arefi 2014). And the notion of placemaking means that urban places are embedded in the built environment and come into being through the reiterative social practices, meanings that are made and remade on a daily basis (Cresswell 2004). Taking sense as a lens, I am going to discuss the ways that participants create experience and how these practices form placemaking and how the placemaking practices contribute to the community culture.
Spatial Structure
Similar to its function in the formation of sense of place, the spatial structure also influences the way in which people create sensory experience and then influences the placemaking practices. For example, Michael’s shop is a semi-open-air space. There is no roof (but the indoor vintage market that his shop locates in has a roof), so it’s harder for Michael to create an independent space that have a completely different vibe from the surroundings. Therefore, the sensory experience in Michael’s shop is largely overlapped with that in other parts of the indoor vintage market – the shared background music, the wood floor paved in the whole venue, and so on. The sensory experience in and out of his shop is blended with each other and fit in the larger environment, producing a retro vibe together with other shops.
On the contrary, the spatial structure of Blake’s shop shows more closure and independence. That’s why the calming, relaxing, slow-paced sensory experience can work in such a busy, bustling market. Customers wouldn’t feel disharmonious but immersed when being in the shop because the space is relatively closed. This helps contribute to the diversity of and multiple experience in the market. And the different experiences can be received respectively and do not distract each other. Just like Lucas said, the shops and stalls are like many different pockets, some are more open to the air and more attached to the environment while others are more closed to themselves.
Hybrid Experience
Another interesting aspect about sensory experience making is the hybridity of different senses. This is particularly illustrated in the Lucas’ case. Lucas uses the notion of “sixth sense” to explain and summarise the sensory experience that he wants to create for customers. The visual, audio, tactile and smell experiences are working together to create a new sense or vibe, the one that is intangible but crucial in the formation of sense of place, or the ideal result of placemaking. The visual elements, music, scents and texture of clothes are compatible with each other, sharing some similar attributes, so that it can work.
Lucas make efforts to create such a sixth sense, with some might not directly addressing a particular sense. For example, he gives customers postcards or stickers with the clothes’ unique patterns printed on them, so that customers can bring the experience with them even they leave the shop. Therefore, the placemaking strategy here is a comprehensive effort, co-creating an unique vibe that constitutes part of the market’s culture.
Loss Sense of Place?
Camden Market is undergoing a process where individual business and mass-produced products are merging and co-existing on the stage. There are some individual, handmade businesses in the market and also some corporate, chained businesses in the market. But they are not completely separate. Starting from scratch, Blake’s business is now developing into a medium-scale company that has multiple selling channels. And Lucas’ fabrics are imported from China and the clothes are made in China. With the globalisation, commercialisation and industrialisation being the background and paradigm of development, it’s kind of pointless to distinguish the individual from corporate or merely criticise the homogeneity.
Rather, I would argue that Camden Market’s community culture is not erased because the formation of culture fundamentally relies on people. There are many vintage clothing shops in Camden Market, but not every shop owner would decorate his/her shop using the second-hand furniture that collected from the street. Michael himself is a bit nostalgic. He said that 80s and 90s were the best age because that was his time. “The quality of clothes was better, and the music was also better.” And there are many clothes shops and light shops in the market as well. But as I said, the vibe is different, because the personality and identity of shop owners are marked on things in the shop, either self-consciously or not, in the form of every sensory element.
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