Place attachment through interaction with urban parks: A cross-cultural study

Abstract

Globalization and mobile societies challenge large cities to provide not only basic services, such as water or housing, but also places where long-term residents and (forced) migrants are able to form bonds and attribute meanings. The question of what types of urban settings can foster place attachment through interaction has been poorly investigated. To address this research gap, a qualitative study was conducted in Iran to investigate how long-term residents (Persian) and bi-cultural migrants (Afghans who migrated to Iran and stayed there for more than 5 yrs) form bonds with urban parks. Participants were given a standardized round-trip of Persian gardens and a modern urban park. Theory-guided, problem-centered interviews were recorded and analyzed with directed qualitative content analysis. Considerable differences were found among both groups in terms of how people created attachments with the different places. For both user groups both park types enabled links to the place via practical and visual appreciation, social interactions, emotions and garden structure. In contrast to the modern park, the Persian gardens offered many more opportunities to link to the place via shared history, meanings and memories. These three prominent drivers of place identity offered long-term residents excellent means to establish a bond with that place. Shared history and meanings, however, rarely allowed bi-cultural migrants to become attached to the place; for this group, certain elements of Persian gardens triggered memories that enabled them to view the places of origin and relocation as interconnected locations capable of providing different, yet compatible experiences. As theory suggests, such access helps to reduce the disruption of moving to a new place. Our results help to empirically test and broaden current place attachment theories and encourage city planners to preserve and develop parks that satisfy more than the ‘place dependency needs’ of users.