What’s In a Name, Right?

When the thought about starting a blog first came to mind, I realized it would need to be called something. It would need to have a name – and, in a sense, a brand. However, I didn’t want the name of our blog to be limiting in any way… What if it started as a home improvement/design blog, but over time evolved into something else? I wanted to allow for that potential evolution, and for open-ended possibilities.

A rose is a rose is a rose… or something like that.

For direction, I thought about what it was that we were hoping to achieve here – not just within the confines of our four walls, and under our roof, but throughout our city, and beyond – and how that idea could be effectively communicated. And it occurred to me that we wanted to make something. We didn’t want to just be passive residents of a place, but we wanted to actively contribute to it — to build something and have an impact. We wanted to live a life of action and pursuit, and not of passivity… hence, the verb “make” came to mind. It seemed fitting. We wanted to make a place – and we wanted the blog to be a means of reflection, and a source for holding ourselves accountable for actually living that way (woah – things just got way deep there!) Anyhow… “Place Making,” I thought, would be the perfect title.

Then, a minor snag… upon further research, I realized that placemaking (one word, no space) is already established as a recognized movement and philosophy. Reading into it more, however, I learned that “placemaking” refers to the development of public spaces – and is described as follows: “Placemaking capitalizes on a local community’s assets, inspiration, and potential, with the intention of creating public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness, and well being.” (source: Wikipedia).

That concept, though intended for a larger community project, still resonated with me – we wanted to capitalize on all our own resources in order to create our own personal place of happiness and well-being. Hence, this blog is our definition of our own personal place making. Get it? Good. :)

Well, I think that’s enough heady outpouring for one post… onto some fun stuff next!