There appears to be a number of different senses of sense of place or of landscape. Of these, I'd like to quote three: a philosophical sense, a (social) scientific and an artistic sense.

     The philosophical sense is represented in our times by such as Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger (as elaborated by J. Malpas in Heidegger's Topology; see previous Post). The sense given in social sciences (anthropology, social geography, psychology, etc) as discussed in the articles that appear in such books as Ley's: Place/Culture/ Representation, Hirsch's : Anthropology of Landscape, Perspectives on Place and Space (just to quote some that appear in our group's What to Read  List).

  Finally, the artistic sense as in literature or visual arts. To use some trite examples: no doubt we get the "sense of a place" like Giverny from Monet's paintings of it, or like Toledo, in El Greco's ones or like Yosemite Valley from Ansel Adams photos.

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   The problem is that a layman that happens to be interested in the question of sense of place or landscape has to choose its own way among this plurality of senses. Not at all an easy task to advance through all of them and, even less, to attempt some sort of synthesis of the various senses.  

 It seems to me that, of the three, it is the artistic sense the one that can talk in a more direct fashion to the layman or uninitiated. Unencumbered by weighty concepts and definitions the artist can reach him directly conveying the way he senses a particular landscape or place.

    The question of sense of landscape seems to be of much concern also to contemporary artists. In this respect,  I'd like to call attention to the LAND2  project (quote) "a network of artists associated with Higher Education who work not only in painting, print and photography but a variety of other media and are concerned with radical approaches to land and landscape, with a particular focus on memory, place and identity" …" Members of the network share common interests in how art can engage with the possibilities and problems of landscape / place as it is understood today, while also recognizing the contested nature of both these terms"

   From their Website at: http://www.land2.uwe.ac.uk/hc/index.htm , a number of Links worth pursuing to Essays and exhibitions very much connected to the subject we are now discussing.