MAKING SENSE OF PLACE examines the complex questions of urban planning and regional identity by exploring the ways in which people participate in and experience their cities. The two-part series illuminates the tensions among growth, economic development and quality-of-life in downtown areas, local neighborhoods and surrounding regions. One-hour films chart urban decay, the erosion of inner suburbs and the growth of outer suburbs in two American cities: Phoenix and Cleveland. Residents, business leaders, community groups, elected officials, activists and experts in land use and urban planning discuss each city's struggles with sprawl, population loss, economic development and troubled schools.