Traveling this summer through Kirgistan and Uzbekistan, provided us with great new experiences and knowledge of places we did not know enough of before. Since we moved into a new university building last Christmas, and still need to make that new place to ‘our’ place… it was fascinating to see this early university built by one of the founding fathers of our today’s science, and one of the founding fathers of our own discipline Geography, Ulugh Beg, and what this place expresses and how it impresses you when strolling through them. Then you get the feeling that the architect of our modern, transparent, and unrecognisably similar to almost all modern office buildings all over the world, could have done better in making a special place for science… The art of place making…
While in most catholic areas carnival 2018 finished last wednesday. Today, in protestant, Basle (Switzerland), the city where my Daughter lives and studies, at 04:00 hours in the morning the characteristic Carnival Cortége (“Morgenstreich”) is conducted accompanied by drummers and pipers, through the totally dark city, a jovial, yet serious melancholic atmosphere. The event combines unique musical instruments, creativity and ideas, and first-rate artistic performances. This is where 
socio-political topics, stories and current events are communicated in a typical Basel manner: proudly, with acerbic wit and biting humour. It recently has been added to the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list. A great example for how such an event can ‘make a place’.