Genius Loci: Unlocking the Particularities and Potentialities of Beitbridge in Zimbabwe to Enhance Public Place Quality

Founded on place making and, in particular, the ‘sense of place’, genius loci means the ‘spirit of a place’ or the ‘DNA’ of a place. The term is synonymous with the distinctiveness, particularity, special character, or unique identity of a place. Everything and every place have their ‘genius’ established over time by collecting natural and man-made elements. Understanding places’ genius loci allows built-environment practitioners to identify the particularities and potentialities of a place: an important starting point towards improving the quality of public places based on context. Urban public space, the outdoor built environment, can be improved by promoting distinctiveness, which is an important element for tourism, place marketing, and place branding. However, this promising genius loci approach to public place quality is latent and has not been fully studied and used in Zimbabwe. This is happening at a time when public places are deteriorating and lacking attention in urban settlements in Zimbabwe. While raising a torch on the natural and man-made aspects in both rural and urban, this study seeks to unlock the Beitbridge-ness of Beitbridge to enhance urban Beitbridge public space quality. The study follows a qualitative design with a phenomenological strategy of enquiry, which is a window to study the Beitbridge ‘life world’ and taken for granted the elements of ‘genius loci’. Data were collected through interviews, documentary analysis, and systematic observation of selected public places. The interview respondents, namely Beitbridge development practitioners (municipality senior officers, Rural District Council senior officers, and Rural District Development Committee members) and Beitbridge senior citizens, were selected by purposive sampling. Data were analysed through themes and images. The findings of this study will stand as a record of Beitbridge ‘genius loci’ and subsequently give direction in the planning, design, and management of public places. The study has generated a framework for ‘genius loci-public place’ that will guide the Beitbridge public space system, micro- and macro-level urban planning.