People and places: towards an understanding and categorisation of reasons for place attachment – case studies from the north of England

Abstract

People develop a sense of place, belonging and identity when a place affords tangible and intangible benefits like security, familiarity, shelter, food, work opportunities, and social interaction. Places form landscapes individually valued by people for these reasons. This paper describes Topic Modelling as a new grounded approach to assessing people’s sense of place in a rural landscape affording special qualities for everyday working and living situations – the Peak District National Park, UK. This novel approach is applicable and scalable to any landscape, rural or urban, iconic, or everyday. Results of this study show that significant themes and phenomena not hypothesised at the initial research design stage can emerge from interview data. Examples include pro-environmental behaviours resulting from traditional farming practices, environmental benefits of the drystone-walling tradition, and attitudes towards rewilding initiatives. We argue that such phenomena arise from people’s attachment to place and influence their behaviours.