Whitbread-Abrutat, P 2025, 'Making sense of place', in S Knutsson, AB Fourie & M Tibbett (eds), Mine Closure 2025: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2515_0.03
(https://papers.acg.uwa.edu.au/p/2515_0.03_Whitbread-Abrutat/)
Abstract: Humans apply meanings to spaces that ultimately turn them into ‘places’. Such ‘sense of place’ is a cultural construct and can be beneficial as well as detrimental for a place and the people associated with it. Within the cultural context of how mining modifies – or creates – places from spaces, and landscapes from land, mining activities are, for better or worse, transformational.
Drawing on lessons from examples of mine closure/transition and regeneration, this paper will explore what we mean by ‘sense of place’ and how we recognise it in a mining context, discuss why it is important, and consider how it can be nurtured to support better outcomes when mining ends.

Keywords: closure, transition, landscape, community participation, cultural identity, sense of place