Place Philosophy and Psychoanalysis of Cities As a Possible Project

Hirofumi Minami (Kyushu University)

I intend to present and discuss some ideas related to Place theory by a Japanese philosopher, Kitaro Nishida. In Nishida’s view, self-awareness occurs in a place, yet the “self” here does not necessarily denote a person’s consciousness. Rather, it is the expression of the place. Human agency is part of the total configuration of the historicity of the place. This conceptualization provided a perspective to overcome a rigid subject-object dichotomy. I will term this philosophical position “a Place-theoretical turn.” From this position we can envision Psychoanalysis of Cities as a possible project in which events such as the one that occurred in Ground Zero in Hiroshima and New York could be an occasion for some self-awareness to be embodied by person-place transactions. The architects, for example through their struggles to find expression of the “depth of the place experience” became historical agents that embodied “self” of the place. The “self” here refers to collective understanding and interpretation of the previously un-describable layers of the place experiences in the heart of the city, i.e., “the urban unconscious.” This is only possible and graspable after the expression is actualized. In-placement is a predicate in its formative scheme. Two case studies of the design process of Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park, designed by Kenzo Tange, and that of Ground Zero of New York with its initial proposal and refusal by the public are presented as exemplar occasions for Psychoanalysis of Cities in which self-awareness of both individuals and the place took the transformative whole. This study using Kitaro’s philosophical lens can also help us understand which features are seen as important in each case and reflect on the nature of each view, how it influences conceptualizations and the enablers and pitfalls of comparisons.