Place-based Citizenship: Is it Just a Walk in the Park?

This paper explores the connections between place-based learning and opportunities for fostering multidimensional citizenship and recognition of difference. The paper is based on longitudinal research exploring the kinds of field sites selected for children’s learning. Findings suggested that these selected places tended to be high status sites chosen as places unlikely to raise contentious issues. The paper draws upon research and literature in the fields of cultural and social geography as well as civic and citizenship education in considering the ramifications of such decisions for multidimensional citizenship in the contemporary world. Some of the reasons shaping these choices are introduced; the limitations of such fieldwork choices are also highlighted. The paper suggests an alternative vision for place-based learning which is associated with recognition of place and space as contested, globally connected and always being negotiated. The implications are discussed in connection with specific sites in a regional Australian city. The locations considered in this paper are selected as generic kinds of places and spaces. The pedagogical potential for learning in similar kinds of sites in other contexts is considered.