The concept of "sense of place" became a cornerstone of humanistic geography, which emerged in the 1970s as a critique of the overly objective, quantitative, and positivist approaches dominating the discipline. Humanistic geographers, notably Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph, sought to reintroduce human experience, meaning, and values into geographical inquiry.

Yi-Fu Tuan's Contributions:

Yi-Fu Tuan is renowned for his exploration of the emotional and experiential connections between humans and their environments. His key ideas include:

1. Space vs. Place: Tuan famously distinguished between 'space' and 'place.' Space, for Tuan, is an abstract, undifferentiated, and geometric concept – a blank canvas. Place, in contrast, is space endowed with meaning, value, and human experience. It is a center of felt value, where people develop emotional attachments and a sense of belonging.
2. Topophilia and Topophobia: He coined the term 'topophilia' to describe the affective bond between people and place – a love of place, encompassing all human emotions and meanings associated with a particular environment. Conversely, 'topophobia' refers to the fear or aversion to certain places.
3. Experience of Place: Tuan emphasized that place is not merely a physical location but is actively created through human experience, memory, perception, and imagination. Our interactions with a place, our personal histories within it, and the stories we associate with it all contribute to its unique sense.
4. Role of Culture and Symbolism: He highlighted how cultural values, symbols, and rituals shape our understanding and attachment to places, making them significant beyond their utilitarian function.

Edward Relph's Contributions:

Edward Relph, in his influential work 'Place and Placelessness' (1976), further elaborated on the existential and phenomenological aspects of place:

1. Existential Insideness: Relph argued that humans are fundamentally 'in-place' beings. He introduced the concept of 'insideness' to describe the deep, authentic, and unselfconscious connection people have with their home places. This is a state of being fully immersed and belonging to a place, where one's identity is intertwined with the environment.
2. Outsideness: In contrast to insideness, 'outsideness' refers to a detached, objective, or superficial relationship with a place, often experienced by tourists or those who view a place purely functionally.
3. Placelessness: Relph critically analyzed the phenomenon of 'placelessness,' which he defined as the homogenization and standardization of landscapes and experiences in the modern world. Driven by mass production, globalization, and functional planning, placelessness leads to a loss of distinctiveness, authenticity, and meaningful connection to places, resulting in environments that are interchangeable and lack unique character.
4. Authenticity of Place: He stressed the importance of authentic places – those that genuinely reflect the unique history, culture, and experiences of their inhabitants – and lamented their erosion in the face of modern development.

Both Tuan and Relph, through their distinct yet complementary perspectives, underscored the subjective, emotional, and lived dimensions of geographical space, profoundly influencing how geographers understand the human-environment relationship and the significance of place in human life.