This paper was one in a series of lectures called “Space and identity” that were given to a public audience during the spring of 1998. “Space and identity” was part of the program for Stockholm as the cultural capital of Europe in 1998 and was arranged by the Museum of Architecture and the two psychoanalytical societies in Stockholm. Building on the theories of especially Winnicott and Bion and with references to literature the paper gives a picture of the development of inner space and of potential space as the place for creativity and creative living.