Digital Ground • Malcolm McCullough • 2004
On Places as Accumulators of Value
In Short
We can understand a sense of place as a starting point for a new way of measuring the value of our experiences and interactions; a more expansive measure than solely economic models of value that often leave us bereft of the feeling of being human.
In Depth
Like big piles of money, places are accumulations too. Well-made, well-designed, well-lived-in places are repositories for human, cultural, natural, and fiscal capital. Indeed they serve its increase. (p. 204)
McCullough wants us to consider an expansion of the way society measures value. Given the book’s distaste for technology-centric futures, it is not surprising that the author sees a problem with modern industrial values of growth, efficiency, quantity, and market price. Once basic material needs have been met, “continued industrial production and consumption offer diminishing returns” (p.206).
However, he also believes it's not enough to simply shift industrial values toward entertainment, treating intellectual and cultural interaction as a product.
Under these regrettable conditions, the main purpose of technology appears to have become distraction engineering, and the main ambition for the technological future is to turn up the resolution. (p. 206)
McCullough ultimately leaves the exact details of a revised system of societal values hazy, but it is clear that the participation of people fostered by a sense of place is, for him, a promising measure to explore.
In the end, the design of technology cannot leave us as spectators and consumers, but must let us actively practice at something, however humble. Taking part in a locale is one such activity. (p. 207)