CHIEF EXECUTIVES

Barry Quirk: Why place matters

Barry Quirk as he assesses the importance of place for individuals, communities, cities, nations and the global world in his contribution to Localis' essay collection, Neo-localism: Rediscovering the nation.

It is possible to avoid doing almost anything. But it is not possible to avoid being somewhere. When immersed in the most absorbing augmented or virtual reality simulator or simply with the benefit of a vivid imagination, you may project yourself elsewhere in space and time. But the truth is that you have to be present somewhere, in the here and now. At this very basic level, locality matters. We live in localities and they live in us.

Localities are woven into our personal lives: of where we are from, where we've been, where we are now, and where we imagine we're going. Specific localities give form and colour to our origins, our journeys and our imagined destinations.

Barry Quirk

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