Places determine who we are. And who we are determines places.

Our identity and the place we find ourselves at are in a reciprocal relationship: I participate in giving existence to the place and the place participates in giving an identity to me. 

When I walk my dog in the park, the park is different from when I use it to hang out with friends. The park’s physical characteristics (the climate, the air quality, the composition of the soil) and social aspects (like the way it is used) form a milieu*. Nature AND culture then constitute the milieu. The boundaries between these two dissolve. 

*This reciprocal relationship between place and person is studied in mesology, from Greek mesos (milieu) and logos (science).