In order to change a place for the better, we must first be able to truly understand the soul of a place. Needless to mention, its not easy to understand a place, because it takes a lot of curiosity, adventure and energy- physically, mentally and even spiritually. You need to view places from a birds eye view, the surface, and a worms eye view. Basically what I mean, is that places are multi-dimensional, and therefore, we must see them through various lens and vantage points to truly gain a well-rounded perspective. It's helpful to have a basic understanding of sociology, economics, urban studies, culture and the like. Become a "temporary local" and act as though the place is yours. The most effective way to get to know a place is to just walk around for hours upon hours (make sure you wear comfortable shoes). And don't just walk around, but observe keenly of everything which meets the eye; in fact, use all your senses: nose, eyes, touch, smell and so on. This could be called the travel writers state of mind. Travel writers are always deeply observing the details and the big picture at the same time during their explorations.
Its also important to feel the place, because places are living and breathing phenomenon's. If you don't think they are, then you simply don't have an advanced understanding of places, plain and simple. Places have personalities, moods, behaviors, and so on. For this, you have to get into an almost zen like frame of mind, and just try to feel the character of the place overtime. Like I mentioned earlier, its not easy to understand places on a genuine level. Its kind of like understanding humans-you may know somebody your whole life, but at the same time not really know them at all. And guess what, places are ten-fold more complex than humans, especially large cities.
You must want to always get lost in a place, and then try to find your way. You should explore the unusual spots of places, because that's where the DNA of places is embedded most of the times. One particular cool way I personally like to get to know places on a deep tissue level, is to go couch surfing. Couchsurfing.com is a social network of people around the world, that let you sleep on their couch and also show you around town as a host. For example, I couch surfed in NYC, and stayed at a persons house in a strange neighborhood in Queens. I got to see how she lived, meet her friends, and she showed me parts of the city which only locals would know about. I also stayed at a persons house in lower Manhattan, which of course was a more "poshy" experience. Also using public transit is much better exploration than tour buses or cars-the best thing to do is buy an unlimited day pass. Sometimes I would get on a bus and then get off at a random spot to walk around. You will be amazed at what you discover by doing this. Anyhow, at the end my four day stay in NYC, I probably had a deeper understanding of the city than most people that have lived there for years.
To make the soul searching process of a place less daunting, its key to first possess some basic pre-requisite skills, such as: urban literacy, travel writing, meditation, economic development, creativity, psychology, sustainability, culture, identity and so forth. You truly have to be multi-disciplined.
Surveys, interviews,social media, focus groups, or some "touristy" type of exploration within a place are not sufficient enough to understanding places. The consultants involved in place-based projects (ex. place branding, cultural mapping, etc) must be "place-smart". Otherwise, they won't have a diverse and truthful understanding about the place, which then translates into a poor performance in whatever place based projects their working on.
