Dimensions Of Place Attachment Research Articles

Place attachment, place identity and aesthetic appraisal of urban landscape

Abstract As the aesthetic of the Polish cities became a topic of wider discussions, it is important to detect the potential role of human-place relations. Two studies (N = 185 & N = 196) were conducted to explore the relationship between place attachment, place identity and appraisal of urban landscape. Satisfaction with urban aesthetic was predicted by two dimensions of place attachment (place inherited and place discovered), local identity (on the trend level) and national-conservative identity. Place discovered and European identity were also predictors of visual pollution sensitivity. Place discovered is considered as more active type of attachment that permits both a positive bias concerning the aesthetics of one’s city, and a stronger criticism of the elements that can potentially violate the place’s landscape.

Place Attachment Dimensions and Role Assessment in Modern Hospitals

<p class="zhengwen">Hospitals play a significant role in people’s physical and psychological health, as well as medical and ducational researches of the experts. Therefore, hospitals’ importance is due to both health-care services and the educational effect. Many hospitals do not meet international standards due to oldness and inattention to space users. Based on the studies on place attachment, dimension, and effects, the paper attempts to promote place attachment in clinical spaces through creative exploration. Qualities such as place identity, emotional attachment, place dependence, social bonding, spatial behavior, and functional attachment are the research analysis criteria. The research methods is practical and descriptive-analytic evaluating the problem’s invisible horizons through a critical, objective, and concrete viewpoint and makes creative strategies and models possible which are responsive to different environmental dimensions especially human dimension. To study the criteria for valuation and space creation, the users and what they admire, associate, understand, and use and for which they have “sense of belonging” were also considered. The research results reveal that designing a modern hospital based on the promotion of place attachment results in the quick recovery of the patients, hospital staff’s job satisfaction, medical education improvement and also solutions to the enhancement of the environment quality of the hospital.</p>

Opponents, waverers or supporters: the influence of place-attachment dimensions on local residents' acceptance of a planned biosphere reserve in Austria

A supportive attitude of residents towards protected areas is crucial for successful implementation and management, particularly in densely populated regions such as Central Europe. While previous studies have revealed that emotional and cultural drivers, as well as information level and group membership, can influence attitudes towards protected areas, the effect of place-attachment dimensions remains unclear. A postal survey among local residents (N = 460) explored factors influencing attitudes towards the Lungau (-Nockberge) Biosphere Reserve in Austria before its official recognition. Results indicated societal support throughout all socio-demographic strata. A logistic regression showed that, besides socio-demographics and information level, place attachment had a significant influence on the acceptance of the biosphere reserve. Supporters and opponents showed both high place identity and dependence, while waverers scored low on these dimensions. Results indicate that place attachment is relevant for the design of participatory processes as well as for developing management policies for biosphere reserves.

Effects of distance from home to campus on undergraduate place attachment and university experience in China

First-year students in transition from hometown to campus are generally confronted by intellectual and social challenges as well as disruption and the formation of the place attachments associated with relocation. Understanding the variables affecting student place attachment helps address the widespread concern about student transition. Interactions between place attachment to hometown and campus, and the effects of endogenous and exogenous variables on place attachments, were analysed using covariance analysis, based on questionnaire data gathered at a Chinese university. Campus identity acts as a predictor for the other three dimensions of place attachment to hometown and campus: hometown identity, hometown dependence and campus dependence. Place attachment to campus exerts a direct effect on place attachment to hometown, while the latter indirectly impacts on the former through mediators including academic self-efficacy and peer relationships. Gender, household registration record and duration of dormitory stay were also identified as statistically significant predictors of student place attachment.

Exploring the Dimensional Relationships among Image Formation Agents, Destination Image, and Place Attachment from the Perspectives of Pop Star Fans

ABSTRACTThis study tested a conceptual model in order to examine the role of specific image formation agents in forming destination image and place attachment from the perspective of pop star fans. By examining each construct’s subdimensions, the significant path analysis results supported the proposed model and offered a holistic view of the relationships among the variables, thus extending the literature. Findings suggested that autonomous image formation agents have d3istinct roles in forming destination image and place attachment in comparison with induced and organic agents. The findings highlight the important role of destination image in mediating the relationship between image formation agents and place attachment. This study further revealed a direct impact of image formation agents on place attachment dimensions. Meaningful implications for destination marketers are presented.

Walkability and Attachment to Tourism Places in the City of Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

Tourism places as the main income generating areas should be highlighted as tourist-friendly places. Walkable tourism places will intensify the tourist magnets and focal elements that may increase place attachment. Visitors which include tourists have intensively used urban places, facilities and services, but little of these spaces were designed specifically for tourists’ use. In view of the lack of concern as to how to provide quality and memorable walking experience for visitors, this study identifies issues regarding walkability and pedestrians’ experience of tourism places in the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This paper presents visitors’ feedback on walkability of the city in light of place attachment dimensions. It analyses visitors’ satisfaction and attachment gathered from preliminary surveys and interviews conducted in several places of attractions in the city. The preliminary findings indicate that pleasantness while walking, and the accessibility affects the visitors’ form of engagement with activities and the functional attachment to the places. The emotional attachment is also reflected in the visitors’ identification of visual attractiveness that reflects image and identity, particularly in the areas with strong historical and cultural attributes. Keywords: walkability, place attachment, tourism places, Kuala Lumpur

Resident attitudes, place attachment and destination branding: a research framework

Purpose – This paper aims to propose a new line of research that explores the relationship between residents and destination brand building behaviours through the concept of place attachment. Design and methodology – We conducted a literature review on place attachment and brand building behaviour, and focused more specifically on place identity as an accumulation based dimension of place attachment and word-of-mouth as a behavioural outcome. Approach – With the emergence of new technologies, tourism managers no longer have a complete control over the development of destination brand, since various communication tools enable for residents to engage in the destination branding process. This calls for rethinking the role of residents in destination branding and the necessity to explore various place attachment dimensions and their outcomes. Findings – This study proposes a conceptual framework to understand the role of residents in the construction of the image of their place of residence as a tourism destination. Within this framework, we suggested that place satisfaction may affect residents’ internalisation process, contributing to residents’ behavioural output process, resulting in positive word-of-mouth, participation in tourism activities, and demonstration of destination ambassador behaviour. Originality – Despite the wide interest of researchers in human-place relationship, few studies have focused on residents’ place attachment and its outcomes. This framework suggests that it is important to understanding how residents form place attachment; how they perceive their place of residence as a tourism destination, and what they communicate in order to create positive destination image and strong destination brand.

Place Attachment and the Value of Place in the Life of the Users

Place attachment is a form of connection between a person and the environmental setting. In the production of urban places, planners and designers mainly focus on the quality of the physical components. However, the aspects of meanings and attachment are not adequately considered in the planning and decision-making process. This study utilizes semi-structured interview method to examine place attachment dimensions in understanding the values of a place in the life of the users. Sample cases include examining attachment to streets in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was evident that users’ roles and ethnic backgrounds influenced their responses. Attachment to the places was economically, socially and culturally oriented and prevalent in their daily experience of the places, and the place memories recalled.

The Association Between Riverscape and Place Attachment in Historical Cities in Malaysia

The landscape architecture covers aesthetic aspects, as well as, individual’s activities, and their sense of attachment to urban elements. The river as a natural landscape can play a significant role in urban rehabilitation and residents’ well-being and welfare. The rapid urban development and urban regeneration has inadvertently resulted in a limited attachment to urban ecosystem and landscape designs that make to loos urban river identity and river place meaning. In addition, the riverscape design was not sufficiently studied in historical city rehabilitation. In addition, urban riverscape design focuses on physical aspects while understanding the meaning, social value, social bonding, and psychological sense to riverscape as a place in historical city development still remains a challenging proposition to be undertaken. Hence, this study is motivated to address the need to investigate the association between riverscape and place attachment in historical citied. The study conducted a comprehensive literature review on place attachment dimensions identified by previous research. The study determined twenty three dimensions within three clusters, physical/environmental, personal, and psychological. The dimensions are, pro-environmental behavior, connectedness to the nature, emotional association, person dimension, psychological dimension, place meaning, place identity, recreation experience, destination loyalty, leisure involvement, willingness, sense of place, place satisfaction, length of residence, scale of place, emotional connection, moral factors, place continuous, social bonding, social well-being, and civic and natural dimensions. In conclusion, these dimensions need to be considered in riverscape design and development in heritage cities, such as Malacca in Malaysia, to enhance quality of life and livability, simultaneously. As a future study, formulating the association between riverscape design and place attachment is proposed.

Heart and mind in public transport: Analysis of motives, satisfaction and psychological correlates of public transportation usage in the Gdańsk–Sopot–Gdynia Tricity Agglomeration in Poland

Here, we present two studies (N=159 and N=164) conducted in the Gdańsk–Sopot–Gdynia Tricity Agglomeration in Poland in order to investigate satisfaction motives and psychological correlates of public transportation usage. In the first study, the satisfaction with public transportation is correlated with the perceived quality of life. This relationship was mediated by the dimension of place attachment labeled as “place discovered” (Lewicka, 2012). The second study concentrated on analyzing the role of individual motives in people’s decisions to use public transportation (vs. a car). Firstly, we examined possible motives for the use of public transportation. Similar to studies focused on car users, the results revealed that using public transportation fulfills both instrumental as well as affective–symbolic functions. These affective–symbolic motives correlated with all dimensions of place attachment, and with connectedness to nature, universalism and European identity as well. Finally, the consequences for social and environmental research are discussed.

Effect of dimensions of place attachment on residents’ word-of-mouth behavior

The purpose of this study is to examine and compare the effect of residents’ different dimensions of place attachment on their word-of-mouth (WOM) behavior in two cities: Sydney, Australia and Shanghai, China. A six-dimensional construct of place attachment is proposed based upon a detailed literature review: four attitudinal dimensions (place identity, place dependence, affective attachment, social bonding) and two interactional dimensions (place memory, place expectation) are proposed to reflect different aspects of a resident's attachment to a place. To test the dimensionality of place attachment and relationships between constructs, a survey was completed by 691 residents in the two targeted cities (361 from Sydney and 330 from Shanghai), and a structural equation modeling instrument was applied to analyze the data. The findings of the empirical study statistically support the dimensionality of place attachment proposed, and reveal that, in general, interactional dimensions of place attachment have an effect on WOM behavior. The results suggest that WOM behavior of residents of the two cities is influenced by different attitudinal dimensions of place attachment: Shanghai resident's place identity and social bonding predict one-to-one WOM, while Sydney residents’ affective attachment to Sydney influences their one-to-one WOM behavior. This analysis provides insights into residents’ psychology and behavior in different tourism destinations, as well as important inputs for the sustainable development of destination branding and C2C tourism communication in these two cities.

Forms and sources of place attachment: Evidence from two protected areas

Sense of place is a widely researched concept that has been used to describe and analyze people–place relationships. However, there is no consensus regarding the forms of place attachment, the relative importance of the sources for such attachments, or the spatial extent of place formation. The purpose of the paper is to contribute case examples of sense of place for significant natural areas, thereby adding to the body of evidence that explicates the diverse sources and forms of place attachment. Using content analysis of qualitative stakeholder interviews, we identify these dimensions of place attachment for two nationally significant Australian natural areas. Our data support a tripartite structure for sense of place comprising affective, functional and cognitive forms of attachment. We also examine the extent to which these place attachments are localized on the study sites and/or spatially generalized across sites possessing the same sources of place formation. Our case studies provide evidence for both localized and generalized senses of place. Localized place attachments had affective and functional components, respectively founded on social and biophysical sources. Generalized senses of place comprised functional and cognitive components, with appreciation of historical values of these places key to the formation of the latter. Our results indicate the spatial diversity of place attachments for protected areas and their social, cultural and biophysical sources.

Measure and Analyze How Continuity in Place Influence Place Attachment Case Study: Abadanian Residential Community, Hamedan, Iran

This study aim to measure and analyze how continuity in place influence place attachment Forced migrations have been considered among the factors which have changed the special identities and equations for a part of people. These migrations have sometimes caused migrants to forget their identity and traditions of their hometowns and build their destination based on a combination of the past customs and the available materials. The result is attachment to place. This research pays attention refugees' dwelling in Hamden during and after the war of Iran and Iraq. Focusing on the attachment dimension and place. First, the place attachment dimensions were determined in terms of literature and previous researches. Then, the study variables of refugees' presence were determined by field studies and statistical analyses, to get the attachment severity. The results show that the priority of affecting factors refugee's attachment is environmental factors, social factors and personal context (identity and dependence).

Place attachment and recreation experience preference: A further exploration of the relationship

Place attachment and recreation experience preferences (REP) have received increasing attention in natural resource management, with previous literature (Anderson & Fulton, 2008; Kyle, Mowen, & Tarrant, 2004) indicating that REP predicts place attachment development. This study expands current insight into the relationship between the two concepts. Specifically, we tested two predictive models: the first explored the influence of REP dimensions on place attachment dimensions as tested in previous research; the second explored the influence of place attachment dimensions on REP dimensions alluded to, but not tested, previously. Contrary to expectations, our results did not support the model in which REP predicts place attachment development. Interestingly, our results support the second model and indicate that select place attachment dimensions predict REP dimensions. This positive influence of place attachment on REP dimensions empirically supports the notion that attachment to a setting may influence motivations to visit that setting. Specifically, findings suggest that meaningful social relationships nurtured within the resource encourage visitors to learn, be more knowledgeable, or teach about the resource, and experience quiet, solitude and personal growth. Additionally, respondents’ dependence on the resource motivates them to be among others like themselves. Overall, our findings suggest the complexity of REP–place attachment relationships. Management implicationsPlace attachment has emerged as one important concept in recent outdoor recreation research. Managers should be aware that both the influence of experience on place attachment and the relationship of place attachment on the motivation to visit matter and influence each other. Exploring the relationship between place and recreation experience preference may enable resource managers to gain new insights and help further understand the development of visitor motivations. These insights can contribute to more appropriate site development, including social interactions and exchange of knowledge.

Relationships between place attachment, place satisfaction and pro-environmental behaviour in an Australian national park

Place attachment is a multidimensional construct comprising place dependence, place affect, place identity, and place social bonding. Yet, studies investigating the relationships between place attachment, place satisfaction, and pro-environmental behaviour have not investigated its pluralistic nature. Using data from 452 visitors to the Dandenong Ranges National Park, Australia, this study investigates these four dimensions of place attachment and their relationships with place satisfaction and pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Findings suggest that the four place attachment constructs are significantly associated with place satisfaction. Results suggest that it is necessary to consider pro-environmental behavioural intentions as a two-factor structure construct, comprising low and high effort pro-environmental behaviour. Place satisfaction is associated with low effort pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Place affect is significantly associated with both types of environmental behavioural intentions. Place identity is not associated with either type of environmental behavioural intentions. A significant association is also noted between low effort and high effort pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Practical applications of the study include marketing aimed at encouraging repeat visitation, with sophisticated message development and delivery building emotional attachment, a sense of belonging, and enhanced personal meaning. Heritage interpretation could use affect and emotion to enhance visitor satisfaction and experience, coupled with an outcomes-focused communication plan.

Testing the dimensionality of place attachment and its relationships with place satisfaction and pro-environmental behaviours: A structural equation modelling approach

Drawing on literature from environmental psychology, the present study examined place attachment as a second-order factor and investigated its relationships with place satisfaction and visitors' low and high effort pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to test a model using a sample of 452 visitors at the Dandenong Ranges National Park, in Australia. Results supported the four-dimensional second-order factor of place attachment and indicated (a) positive and significant effects of place attachment on both low and high effort pro-environmental behavioural intentions of park visitors, (b) a significant and positive influence of place attachment on place satisfaction, (c) a significant and positive effect of place satisfaction on low effort pro-environmental behavioural intentions, and (d) a negative and significant influence of place satisfaction on high effort pro-environmental behavioural intentions. The main theoretical contribution relates to the inclusion of the four dimensions of place attachment in a single model. Findings are discussed with respect to their applied and theoretical relevance.

The Influence of Place Attachment and Experience Use History on Perceived Depreciative Visitor Behavior and Crowding in an Urban National Park

Research on recreational place attachment suggests that place identity, or the emotional/symbolic ties people have to places, and place dependence, which describes a functional attachment to a specific place, influence the perception of social and environmental site conditions. Recent research, however, has found that place attachment is not always a predictor of such perceptions. This study investigated the influence of place attachment and experience use history on the perception of depreciative visitor behavior, recreation impacts and crowding in an urban national park. In 2006, 605 on-site visitors to the heavily-used Viennese part of the Danube Floodplains National Park were asked about past experience, place attachment, perceptions of depreciative visitor behavior, crowding, changes in visitor numbers during the past ten years, and recreation impacts on wildlife. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the two dimensions of place attachment. Linear regression analyses found that place identity and place dependence were related to some perceived depreciative visitor behaviors and visitor number changes but not to crowding, while experience use history additionally related to perceived crowding. Visitors with higher place attachment and past experience were more sensitive to social and environmental site conditions. Management implications of the findings are discussed.

The Mediating Effect of Place Attachment on the Relationship between Festival Satisfaction and Loyalty to the Festival Hosting Destination

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that drive festival visitor loyalty to host destinations. Our analysis focused on the role of place attachment as a mediator of the relationship between visitors’ positive evaluation of their festival experience and their loyalty to the host destination. Using structural equation modeling, we found that satisfied visitors at a festival develop a moderate level of emotional attachment to the festival host destination and ultimately become loyal to that destination. Not all dimensions of place attachment and festival satisfaction, however, were statistically significant, nor were they of equal valence in their prediction of the destination loyalty dimensions. Based on these findings, both theoretical and practical implications of this investigation are discussed.

The Dimensions of Place Attachment and its Effect on Environmental Responsible Behavior

World is facing serious environmental crisis, and the willingness to protect the environment becomes more and more positive, but environmental behavior don’t grow with the will. This paper tried to explain the gap between environmental attitude and environmental responsible behavior from place attachment, and explored the moderating role of environmental attitude. The findings showed that place attachment had significant influence on environmental responsible behavior, and the influence was moderated by the environmental attitude. Implications and limitations of these findings were discussed.

Difference in place attachment between students in Helsinki and in Belgrade

Place attachment refers to the process of human-place bonding; the bonding process includes both physical and social ties formed within an environment. In the last two decades, place attachment has been the subject of many studies, but there have not been many cross-cultural studies. The aim of this study was to determine differences in global attachment to house, neighbourhood and city among young people in Belgrade and Helsinki, with consideration of social and physical dimensions of place attachment. Additionally, the effects of gender on all types of place attachments were tested. Data were collected using the Place Attachment Scale (Hidalgo & Hernandez, 2001) and the Questionnaire on residential and socio-demographic characteristics of the sample. The instrument was translated into Serbian and Finnish, respecting the translation procedure for cross-cultural studies (Brislin, 1986) and administered to subjects in their native language. The study was conducted on the sample of two hundred students of psychology, comprising: 100 inhabitants of Belgrade, and 100 of Helsinki, balanced by gender (60% female, 40% male) and age (average 24.4 years). The following results can be pointed out: 1) young people living in Belgrade show greater degree of global attachment to their city than young people living in Helsinki to their city, 2) young people from Belgrade also show greater social ties within their city and house, in relation to peers from Helsinki, 3) physical attachment to house and city is also significantly higher in young inhabitants of Belgrade. An interesting finding is 4) the existence of significant differences between men and women in the degree of global, social and physical attachment to house and physical attachment to city in the Serbian sample, and non-existence of differences in place attachment between men and women in the Finnish sample. The findings are interpreted within the Hofstede's five Cultural Dimensions.