Constructing Place Attachment and Planning the Future of the Neighbourhood. Case Study: Mănăştur, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Abstract

AbstractWe aimed to assess how strong was the relationship between territorial identities and place attachment at the neighbourhood level. To achieve this goal, we had two objectives. The first was to explore how locals used and thought about Mănăştur neighbourhood of Cluj-Napoca City, in Romania, considering how identities, webs of familiarity, and attachments were exhibited in a local newspaper. The second objective was to find out whether local initiatives and practices enhanced people’s place attachment to their neighbourhood. For this two-fold purpose, we used the case study approach and discourse analysis to process the research material represented by the community-led newspaper: Buletin de Mănăştur. The research questions were the following: How is the identity of the neighbourhood and place attachment reflected and constructed in the newspaper? How do representations about the neighbourhood and bottom-up civic initiatives impact inhabitants’ place attachment? Which are the features of attachment in Mănăştur? Are research results relevant to inform spatial planning policy decisions? We did not measure attachment to place, but we did explore how the distinctiveness of the neighbourhood and place attachment were represented. We also discussed the diversity and complexity of processes that contributed to the construction of territorial identity and place attachment.KeywordsRepresentationsTerritorial identityDiscourse analysisCivic actionsBelonging