Spatial routinization and a ‘secure base’ in displacement processes: Understanding place attachment through the security-exploratory cycle and urban ontological security frameworks

Abstract

Place attachment theory derives many insights from disruptions to place attachment, such as displacement, migration and changing landscapes. Development-induced displacement – a specific involuntary disruption to place attachment - invites a particular examination. This paper examines a lengthy process of development-induce displacement in Bangalore, India and draws new insights on place attachment as a structure and a process. The loss of routine and the sense of time-space continuity, in addition to the severe impoverishment that most displaced people encounter, are unpacked with security-exploratory model from interpersonal attachment theory and with the framework of urban ontological security. We argue that spatial routinization encapsulates the social and spatial attributes of continuity and forms the secure base needed to explore the world. Thus, positive and strong place attachment is established through the process of routinization (i.e., a secure base) that enables physical and mental space for exploration. Our findings strengthen the theoretical links between attachment and place attachment theories. Moreover, this study positions the act of displacement not only as obscuring material and citizenship rights of the displaced but also as depriving basic sense of humaneness.