In our modern society, the instinctive territorial drives of humans have been largely suppressed. Where our ancestors marked their environment with scent, objects or structures, this behaviour is now seen as unnecessary, annoying or even destructive. Yet, there is a deep-rooted need within humans to appropriate an environment. It is a drive that stems not only from a biological past, but also from a psychological necessity: the desire to experience connection and control over the space around us. However, in a society where arbitrary claiming of space is seen as undesirable, it is time for an alternative approach: a subtle, less destructive way to assert our presence in a space. By gently making contact with key elements in our environment – such as sliding our hand along a curb, tapping the bottom of a window frame or briefly touching the back of a traffic sign – we can feed our territorial drives in an almost ritualistic way without causing damage.