Places of this kind are outside of all places, even though it may be possible to indicate their location in reality

Again comes the concept of place, as it relates to space. Earlier Foucault mentioned “real spaces,” outside of which utopias lay. Place, however, implies real space. A heterotopia is thus a real place, reaffirming the antithesis Foucault had established before. Yet even though the heterotopia is part of the domain of the real, it still remains outside reality. So whereas the opposite of heterotopia may be utopia, the opposite of both heterotopia and utopia is reality. This seeming contradiction is due to the sameness of both elements of the antithesis.

So what does it mean for a place to be outside of all places? An enigma has been established, once again. The heterotopia is real, but outside all of reality? So what is it, then? A private, isolated space? A cell? The end?

We come back to the notion of the “Other.” The essay is entitled “The Other Spaces:” these are heterotopias. The Other places in our lives which are outside reality but in turn reflect back to us, and affect us, and may be found in reality away from everything else: these are heterotopias. Heterotopias are the other spaces, "real" spaces, but outside of our normal experiences and instead pervade our imaginations.