When people are asked what they mean by "space," they usually answer in terms of vastness, space travel, extending out from the earth's surface, wide open vistas, etc. This is a natural response.

There is another prosaic use of the word space. It is used to illustrate such phrases as make space for me', is there any space?', watch this space!', etc. The word is usually associated with some activity or another.

These two notions of space are directly related to each other since people, when asked "What do you think space is?" answer with the more intangible notion of vastness because they are being asked for a description of something in isolation while it has always existed linked with an associated activity such as gardening, sitting around, parking a car, advertising, and so on.

A third way of thinking about space is by way of measurement, which we come to control as we grow up. This is in response to the complexity of relationships that he perceives. He defines spaces. For instance, surfaces are defined as two-dimensional spaces made up of multiple distances, as are volumes.

In the end, the word 'space' has always implied some action that is possible. In the present-day world, the possibilities for actions are so diverse and of such different kinds that we have to realise that no one definition will do for 'space'.