What makes Waterloo Region unique? What defines a sense of place?
Seventy-five carefully chosen photographs depict the elements that collectively make Waterloo Region's urban landscape different from any other Ontario city, for example, the predominance of industrial architecture in the heart of the city, the Pennsylvania-German influences, and the Mid-Century Modernist buildings, which University of Waterloo Architecture Professor Rick Haldenby calls “the vernacular architecture of Waterloo Region.”
Sense of place has been defined as our relationship with places in terms of the emotions, personal experiences, stories they evoke. Elsworthy's photographs dramatically illustrate how the built form can attract or repel. He invites us into each of his photographs to experience and interpret each scene for ourselves. Over the course of the book, we come to see how community and sense of place are intrinsically and vitally connected.

Philippe Elsworthy is an artist, musician, and retired cabinetmaker. His first book Evolving Urban Landscapes received the Waterloo Region History Prize in 2017. As well as numerous awards for furniture and musical instrument construction, he received the Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation's Award of Excellence in 2014.

Philippe Elsworthy's profile page

Adam Crerar is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Adam Crerar's profile page