SPACES AND RELATIONSHIPS

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What is “space”?

The space we spend time in has a huge influence on us. 

If you think about it, you might easily see 

that it shapes our identity and how we relate to things. 

“Space” can be seen as the relationship I am experiencing 

between myself and an area, or an object, individual, 

or anything that I am engaged in at that moment or period of time. 

Space is the world around us: 

people, objects, systems, physical nature, 

and is also the world within. 

Meaning, there are different forms of space 

that we move in and out of, 

depending on what our focus and attention is:

what is influencing or imposing on us at any given time? 

4 Spaces

The term “space” as used here is divided into 4 kinds:

•  physical (natural and built)
• social
• psychological
• spiritual 

 1. PHYSICAL SPACE - NATURAL and BUILT

The is the space outside of ourselves; the place we inhabit, the place we exist in.

It contains us, as a physical space and place that “holds” and supports us, 

is like a framework we operate in, and is all around us.  

It can be the natural environment, for others it is the built environment, 

the urban space, and for others, it is something in between. 

Both spaces involve relationship:

one is between the human and the Earth, 

the other is between the human and others:

objects, structures and inhabitants.

B. THE SPACE OF MANMADE

This is the space we live in, 

where it is observed more closely:

the relationship between humans 

and their environment 

through their lived experience. 

It is the space where we are learning 

how and what the overall impact of being 

in a designed space is having on us. 

 2. SOCIAL SPACE

PLACE AND RELATIONSHIP

Social space is made up of 2 things - place and relationship. 

Within place are structures and systems that influence and become the relationships of interaction. It is the space of activity - with others (people, animals, objects), with structures, and with location. Everything is about communication and interaction. 

This is the space we live in - our place - neighbourhood, city, county, country - and it contributes in shaping our identity and even our degree of wellbeing.

By the end of the 20th century, just under 50% of the population is found living in cities. These built up spaces are the urban space, divided into other spaces, like a series of containers within containers - our home, the street I live on, the shops where I buy my groceries, the local school, my place of work, the public transport that takes me into work, or the road systems that my car drives along to go into work, etc. - all spaces that contain us. These are the spaces of people, movement and objects.

We are defined by our social connections.

The people we spend time with on our journeys through daily living, those who make up the neighbourhood we live in, the specific community we are a part of, even those we share our rush hour traffic with - along busy traffic ways or on our bicycle by a seawall, plus all the systems carried out by humans that run us as a whole, are all part of my social space.  

THE PERSONAL AND THE PUBLIC

With social space comes the influence of humans on humans.

The self and relationships with others. 

The self shaped by family/social expectations and norms.

The self and relationship with systems and various forms of structures, arrangements, networks, complexities.

People often define themselves according to their place of upbringing, local hero, sports team, tourist attraction, monument, historical fact, degree of affluence, or physical environment. The area one lives in can give a sense of belonging and identity, and even inclusion and exclusion, which as social space, can influence the development of identity and behaviour. 

3. PSYCHOLOGICAL SPACE

This space is the area inside our minds, the mental place, the space where our thoughts are created and take effect, where our psychology operates. 

It is sometimes referred to as inner space, personal space, my space.

THINKING PROCESS

The mind is the most powerful asset of the body, creating anywhere between 50,000 and 80,000 thoughts a day - conscious and unconscious - and that can be up to 3000 per hour or 50 per minute, just under one per second.

• Our Thinking Process is our psychological space. 
• Our Memory (the storage unit of one’s life), 
• Imagination (the creation of thoughts around new ideas, images, concepts) 
• Conscience (reason and consequence) 

all exist in this mental space. 

With the mind, one has the ability to create within 

their inner space whatever they so choose.

Once I understand how my mind works, 

I can retrain my thinking to create inner experiences that influence my outer experience.

The most important thing to know about psychological space, 

is grasping the impact our thoughts have on us.

Psychological space is the area inside our minds, 

the mental place, the space where our thoughts are created 

and take effect, where our psychology operates. 

What the mind creates can be very powerful, 

and it starts at the level of thought.

Thoughts are created by the mind, 

repeated thoughts create behaviour and 

thus becomes a part of my personality.

4. SPIRITUAL SPACE 

A fourth type of space, the spiritual, is created by belief and experience and can exist in specific types of physical and psychological spaces:

• a sacred or holy place
• the powerful natural environment 
• places where stillness, silence, contemplation have been practiced over time
• the practices of prayer and meditation
• an inner experience of transcending the physical body while still being in it
• in imagined places or realities that do not exist in the physical realm
• creating within