Knowledge of places: An ontological analysis of places and their semantic stratifications

Abstract

Talking about place, we make a sort of addition to physical space, as a place is an interpreted space. This paper tries to interpret places through place perception, by looking at the work of artists and other spatial agents. Geographical places offer a good stance in dealing with complex spatial environments using different paradigms. Ontologies seem to be useful in this sense, to look at place cognition with an analytical and organizational aim in complex spatial environments, for decision-support purposes.

The final rationale of this paper is twofold. On one hand, ontological levels are useful for complexity modelling aims: yet they are still informative, and our understanding of space cannot be reduced to these ontological elements per se. Therefore, deeper studies and research are needed to develop formal frameworks for modelling purposes.