The concept of topology originally comes from mathematics. But in the context of placemaking it represents a theory of places and fields. Ever since the so-called spatial turn in philosophy, the categories of place and field have undergone a renaissance. This turn has linked Western philosophy with its Japanese counterpart, where, since the beginning of the 20 century, the notions of basho/ ba (place /field) and “bashoron” (the theory of place) have had a central role.
In his work on social space, Pierre Bourdieu writes:
Thinking the concept of field demands a reversal of the general everyday view of the social world that ties itself exclusively to visible things … Indeed: Just as the the Newtonian laws of gravity could only be developed by breaking with Cartesian realism, which recognized no other mode of physical action than the impact, the direct contact, the concept of field is predicated on a break with the realistic concept that reduces the effect of the milieu to the direct action completed in an interaction. [Bourdieu]
Precisely because Bourdieu’s concept of field cannot be reduced to the interactions that take place within it, he demands us to regard the field as its own effective quantity and place it at the center of our study. In this way, Bourdieu contributes to the sociological effort to advance the understanding of space as a topos.
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