Place-based Values Research Articles

Incremental adaptation when transformation fails: The importance of place-based values and trust in governance in avoiding maladaptation

Climate change threatens human wellbeing and adaptation is essential. To-date, little research has examined connections between incremental and transformative adaptation. We address this gap using two multi-functional flood defence projects in Clontarf, a community in Dublin, Ireland, one of which represents transformative and the other incremental adaptation. Using a repeated study, we ask (i) does the importance of place-related values differ depending on whether adaptation is incremental or transformative, and (ii) what role does trust in governance play in incremental adaptation when transformation fails? Surveys were administered in Clontarf in 2014 (n = 280) after community resistance to transformative flood defences. A follow-up study using an identical survey was undertaken to evaluate separate incremental flood defences in 2016 (n = 242). Results highlight several important findings. First, both adaptation interventions show repeated potential threats to place from perceived weak governance rather than from disruptive place change caused by climate change. Second, where place attachment is strong, communities may repeatedly resist potential threats to place by challenging poor governance. However, this inadvertently threatens place disruption from climate change e.g., extreme climatic events. This could cause maladaptation, tying future decisions to past actions and failing to consider alternative transformative adaptation pathways. Finally, community discussions on transformative pathways and avoiding maladaptation risks are crucial for successful adaptation. This includes recognising trade-offs between place disruption threats from proposed adaptation strategies and climate change. Governance processes may subsequently need to transform and incorporate learnings or risk repeated resistance to adaptation previously considered rational. Many of these issues are likely to be encountered in all regions globally and across multiple adaptation sectors. Findings therefore provide important evidence to improve adaptation outcomes more generally.

Correction: Farmers’ permanence in peripheral rural areas. place-based values as drivers of resistance beyond the decline

Correction: Farmers’ permanence in peripheral rural areas. place-based values as drivers of resistance beyond the decline

Farmers’ permanence in peripheral rural areas. Place-based values as drivers of resistance beyond the decline

Farmers’ permanence in peripheral rural areas. Place-based values as drivers of resistance beyond the decline

Public participation GIS can help assess multiple dimensions of environmental justice in urban green and blue space planning

In the last two decades, there has been an exponential increase in application of public participation GIS (PPGIS) methods to urban green and blue space (UGBS) planning. However, integrating different elements of environmental justice in PPGIS research is still in its infancy, especially in regards to the deep and less visible issues related to recognition and participation of different groups in local green space planning and management. Here we present a new method for assessing perceived recognition and procedural justice with respect to UGBS in the Amager island of Copenhagen, Denmark. We collected survey data together with 2187 place-based values and preferences from 298 local residents. Using Exploratory Factor Analysis, we classified respondents in four clusters representing low to high perceived recognition and procedural justice. We then examined how these clusters relate to socio-demographics and the spatial distribution of mapped values and preferences. Results indicated no significant differences in terms of income and age between clusters. However, there was clear variation in the spatial distribution and type of values and preferences respondents from different clusters assigned, particularly for those who feel unrecognized and do not participate in local environmental decision-making compared to all other groups. In addition, gender had a significant effect on the perceptions of recognition and procedure. Female respondents scored lower on procedural justice than male and mapped landscape values and preferences closer to home than males, thus suggesting that gender inequalities can be deeply embedded in everyday public spaces and practices. Planning inclusive and environmentally just UGBS requires not only incorporating such gender perspectives, but a more flexible, intersectional and relational understanding of space that reflects the everyday needs of different and marginalized groups.

Public participation geographical information systems (PPGIS): Participatory research methods for sustainability ‐ toolkit #1

Participatory mapping is a useful approach to engage the general public and stakeholders to communicate place-based values, behaviour, preferences and observations. The approach informs social-ecological research and land-use planning. In land-use planning, PPGIS is applicable, for example, in initial phases or for assessing project outcomes. This toolkit gives guidance on participatory mapping surveys.

Research avenues for amplifying Indigenous radio.

In this article,I discuss Indigenous radio's ongoing importance for tribal communities in the US from my perspective as a settler scholar, drawing on multifaceted research into Indigenous radio'sprogrammecontent and production practices before and during the pandemic.For this research, 'Indigenous radio' refers to radio produced, managed, presented and/ or owned by tribal communities. Other terms in use to describe Indigenous radio include Native American, Indian, or tribal radio, demonstrating that there is not a singleuniversalisingterm and reflecting a diversity in tribal cultures, languages and practices more generally. Building on this understanding of the inherent diversity of Indigenous radio, I describe the ways in which my overarching research project investigates Indigenous radio holistically, via critical outputs combining a literature review of Indigenous theoretical approaches, an online interactive map of tribal stations and in-depth case studies of tribal stations.Through these, I explorecommunity-building practices of Indigenous radioasproduced through whatIndigenous theorists Glen Coulthard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (2016) termgrounded normativity. Building on thisavenue ofexploration, I suggest the place-based values embedded in Indigenous radio production practices and content can function aseverydayacts of resurgence, following Jeff Corntassel's (2012)conceptualisationof ways in which Indigenous resurgence can reinforce a project ofdecolonisation. Toexemplify andsituate these arguments, Idraw on examples of radio production and practitioner insights from selected tribal stations embodying diversetribal production practices and content, before turning to focus on pandemic practices in Indigenous radio.When the pandemic emerged, myresearchfocusnecessarily widenedto includeand examine COVID-related practices and programming in tribal radio, enablingreflectionon these in the context of a paradigm shiftin which the value of tribal radio's community-building work has become acute.

Searching for Culture in “Cultural Capital”: The Case for a Mixed Methods Approach to Production Facility Siting

Site selection modeling receives much attention in the aviation biofuels literature to ensure sustainability of the aviation biofuel supply chain. These models seek to reflect the multitude of factors and conditions necessary for supply chain success. Social factors impacting that success have received increasingly greater attention but are often excluded due to difficulties in obtaining accurate and standard measures. Some of the most promising work in this arena utilizes a “community capitals approach” to create statistically grounded decision support tools (DSTs) intended to provide rapid assessment of the social characteristics of potential facility locations. Despite the value of the community capitals approach, this methodology is still marked by inconsistent predictivity due to an inability to reliably assess the cultural and historical nuances of local communities that are so vitally important to the long-term viability of these costly projects. This paper more fully examines the Community Assets and Attributes Model (CAAM) that has been developed and applied in the Pacific Northwest to incorporate social assets in site selection modeling. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Colorado and Wyoming dealing with biomass/bioenergy facility siting, we argue that cultural capital, a key component of the CAAM, is biased to urban locations due to the measurements incorporated. As a result of this bias, current site selection modeling based on the Community Capitals Framework (CCF) does not accurately reflect rural community assets. We assert that the CAAM does not actually measure cultural capital but a product of cultural capital, namely creativity, and innovation Our mixed methods approach that combines quantitative assessment with ethnographic research highlights the limits of the CAAM by revealing that local residents in largely rural counties showed willingness to innovate in some cases but in others referred to history with similar industries that may limit support. The quantitative cultural capital measurements of the CAAM for the four counties we examine, which range in scores from −0.53 to 2, do not capture these dynamics. These scores would generally suggest moderate to high levels of support for biomass/bioenergy facilities, but the ethnographic research provides nuance for or against support that are not reflected in the quantitative capital scores. This suggests that the quantitative CAAM scores could be misleading without added qualitative context. This work demonstrates that a mixed methods approach, combining ethnographic and historical methodologies with existing quantitative community capital approaches, will produce a more effective predictive methodology for facility siting due to its heightened ability to gather critical data on place-based values, beliefs, and historical legacies relating to natural resource development in general, and the timber industry specifically.

Incorporating place-based values into ecological restoration

Incorporating place-based values into ecological restoration

Public Acceptance of Nature-Based Solutions for Natural Hazard Risk Reduction: Survey Findings From Three Study Sites in Europe

Climate change is one factor increasing the risk of hydro-meteorological hazards globally. The use of nature-based solutions (NbS), and more specifically ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction measures (Eco-DRR), has become a popular response for risk reduction that also provides highly-valued co-benefits. Public acceptance is of particular importance for NbS since they often rely on local collaborative implementation, management, and monitoring, as well as long-term protection against competing societal interests. Although public engagement is a common goal of NbS projects, it is rarely carried out with a sufficient understanding of the (de)motivating factors tied to public perceptions. Successful collaboration demands consideration of societal attitudes and values in relation to risk, nature, and place. However, existing research does not sufficiently explore these themes together, their interactions, and their implications for the public acceptance of NbS. This may lead to misaligned public expectations and failed participatory initiatives, while jeopardizing the success of NbS projects and their continued funding and uptake. We conducted citizen surveys within local NbS “host” communities to determine the degree of pro-NbS attitudes and behavior, associated variables, and how these may be leveraged to increase acceptance. We compared results across sites, relying primarily on correlations and regression models along with survey comments and expert knowledge. Three distinct rural NbS being implemented within the OPERANDUM project aim to reduce risk from (socio-)natural hazards in Scotland (landslides and coastal erosion; n = 66 respondents), Finland (eutrophication and algal blooms; n = 204) and Greece (river flooding and water scarcity; n = 84). Our research thus centers on rural NbS for risk reduction within a large EU project. Trust in implementers is a consistent factor for defining attitudes towards the NbS across the sites, and attitudes are strongly associated with respondents’ commitment to nature and behavioral acceptance (i.e., willingness to engage). Behaviorial acceptance is most consistently predicted by connectedness to place and the extent of expected future impacts. Skepticism of NbS effectiveness leads to high public demand for relevant evidence. To increase public acceptance, we recommend greater framing of NbS in relation to place-based values as well as demonstration of the effectiveness of NbS for risk reduction. However, distinct hazard types, proposed NbS, and historical characteristics must be considered for developing strategies aimed at increasing acceptance. An understanding of these characteristics and their interactions leads to evidence-based recommendations for our study sites and for successful NbS deployment in Europe and beyond.

Indigenous Meanings of Provenance in the Context of Alternative Food Movements and Supply-Chain Traceability: A Review

This article reviews the concept of provenance from both contemporary and traditional aspects. The incorporation of indigenous meanings and conceptualizations of belonging into provenance are explored. First, we consider how the gradual transformation of marketplaces into market and consumer activism catalyzed the need for provenance. Guided by this, we discuss the meaning of provenance from an indigenous and non-indigenous rationale. Driven by the need for a qualitative understanding of food, the scholarship has utilized different epistemologies to demonstrate how authentic connections are cultivated and protected by animistic approaches. As a tool to mobilize place, we suggest that provenance should be embedded in the immediate local context. Historic place-based indigenous knowledge systems, values, and lifeways should be seen as a model for new projects. This review offers a comprehensive collection of research material with emphasis on a variety of fields including anthropology, economic geography, sociology, and biology, which clarifies the meaning of provenance in alternative food systems. It questions the current practices of spatial confinement by stakeholders and governments that are currently applied to the concepts of provenance in foods, and instead proposes a holistic approach to understand both indigenous and non-indigenous ideologies but with an emphasis on Maori culture and its perspectives.

How do nature-based solutions contribute to urban landscape sustainability?

Landscape destruction is much prevailing nowadays, with cities expanding coupled with an increasing global population. Accordingly, moving landscapes toward sustainability is needed more than ever before. Although urban and landscape planners have increasingly studied landscape sustainability, understanding the impact of nature-based solutions on landscape sustainability is still obscure. In order to fill this gap, this study provides a framework that identifies the contribution of nature-based solutions (NBS) in environmental, sociocultural, and economic indicators to urban landscape sustainability. The results of this research highlight that the implementation of NBS has the potential to make the urban landscapes more sustainable in the elements including water, soil, air, and vegetation and wildlife as environmental; health, security, education, place-based values, visual quality, and social relationship as sociocultural; and tourism, employment, energy, agriculture, and waste management and recycling as economic dimension.

Creating a space for place and multidimensional well-being: lessons learned from localizing the SDGs

Achieving sustainable development globally requires multilevel and interdisciplinary efforts and perspectives. Global goals shape priorities and actions at multiple scales, creating cascading impacts realized at the local level through the direction of financial resources and implementation of programs intended to achieve progress towards these metrics. We explore ways to localize global goals to best support human well-being and environmental health by systematically comparing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with regionally-derived well-being dimensions that encompass components of social–ecological resilience across the Pacific Islands. Our research shows that, in the context of the Pacific, there are overlaps but also significant gaps between regional conceptions of well-being and the globally-derived SDGs. Some dimensions, related to human health and access to infrastructure and finances, are well represented in the SDGs. Other dimensions of high importance when localizing perspectives of well-being, such as those regarding connections between and across people and place and Indigenous and local knowledge, are not. Furthermore, internationally generated indicators may result in trade-offs and measurement challenges in local contexts. Creating space for place-based values in global sustainability planning aligns with international calls for transformational changes needed to achieve global goals. We identify challenges in applying SDG indicators at the local level and provide lessons learned to foster equitable and holistic approaches and outcomes for sustainability.

A place-based perspective on marine and coastal space

Over recent years the sea has experienced re-interpretation as marine space, or more specifically as marine spatial planning (MSP) space. This article uses the concept of place as a contrasting interpretation to space, referring to place-making as a metaphor for the various ways in which meaning is created in the sea. As expressions of an intimate connection between experienced materiality and symbolism, places (unlike space) are never abstract, but always carry emotional dimensions. Place attachment can be the result of everyday profe ssional links, recreational activities, or living by the sea, and arises despite the greater intangibility of locations in the sea. As a result of their greater physical intangibility, places in the sea may require more frequent (re-)making than places on land, pointing to the inherent importance (and value in their own right) of the associated (socio-cultural) processes of place-making. The ability to engage in place-making is thus an important avenue for expressing place-based values, an understanding which could be used to enrich marine spatial planning processes. Focusing more on the intimate connections people have with places in the sea and how quality of place matters to them could turn MSP into an enabler of place-making, becoming more of a rich and continuous dialogue around the multiple ways in which people interact with and value the sea.

From pork to fork: The social experience of bundles of interacting ecosystem services through gastronomy

There is an increasing recognition that ecosystem services are inclusive and form bundles of services that deliver multiple contributions to people. Traditionally, the notion of bundles of services is grounded on biophysical assessments and less attention has been paid to the perspective of human experience and valuation of these bundles. Information about the benefits and values of bundles of services is relevant as it provides a common language to decision-makers and general society. In this perspective, we describe gastronomy as bundles of provisioning (e.g. food, energy, water) and cultural (e.g. recreation, aesthetics, inspiration, spiritual fulfilment) services. We discuss how gastronomy, as the co-production of bundles of services, can be enclosed by both the ecosystem and the human system. Examples are provided to illustrate the place-based values and particularities of the individual, communal and society values of gastronomy. We briefly present how gastronomy constitutes an opportunity for an integrated valuation of bundles of services, based on the plurality of gastronomic preferences and attitudes at the individual, social group and society levels. Finally, we highlight that deliberative processes may enable the social learning of shared values, which are useful for the valuation of ecosystem services and for making decisions on natural capital.

Values-led management: the guidance of place-based values in environmental relationships of the past, present, and future

Values-led management: the guidance of place-based values in environmental relationships of the past, present, and future

Towards a more emotional geography of civic pride: a view from an English city

This article argues that civic pride has been relatively under-explored in geography and deserves greater attention as an emotional and political value associated with place. Through a case study of Nottingham, England, I examine how local civic actors perceive and express civic pride and the values it encompasses, using a discourse analysis of interviews, policy material and local media. I illustrate how civic pride is connected with everyday feelings of identity, community and what people value and aspire to in a given place, and demonstrate how we might think critically about civic pride’s connections to and relevance beyond local government. The analysis illustrates how, in the context of recent developments across British cities, civic actors and institutions engage with and value the city in different ways and that a diverse set of discourses and practices can emerge from a shared concern to protect civic identity and autonomy. Bringing together emotional and urban geographies literature, this paper challenges geographers to think carefully about how place-based values like civic pride can shape and reproduce often well-meaning but problematic discourses and practices within cities, but also how the underlying meanings and values associated with pride can surface in resistive and progressive ways.

Mixed methods participatory GIS: An evaluation of the validity of qualitative and quantitative mapping methods

Participatory mapping in social research is characterized by methodological pluralism, with two common methods being qualitative mapping using stakeholder interviews and quantitative methods that engage larger public samples through digital, internet mapping. To date, there has been no systematic evaluation of the extent to which mixed methods in participatory mapping yield valid results when applied to the same research setting and research questions. A mixed methods research design (combined exploratory sequential and convergent parallel) was implemented in a large research project to identify marine and coastal values in the Kimberley region of Australia. Qualitative interviews (n = 167) were completed with stakeholders to identify place-based values using polygon mapping methods and internet-based public participation GIS (PPGIS) methods (n = 578). We defined and operationalized the concepts of concurrent, commensurate, and convergent validity to assess mixed methods research outcomes. We found that qualitative and quantitative methods resulted in moderate to high concurrent validity when assessing the importance of place values in the study area. Convergent validity (spatial) was highly variable by place value, with stronger convergent validity found with mapped aesthetic, recreational fishing, tourism, biodiversity, and Aboriginal culture values, and weakest with existence, therapeutic, and commercial fishing values. Convergent validity was influenced by weak commensurate validity through the use of different geometric features (polygons versus points) for mapping values across a large study area. The utility of mixed methods for planning decision support in a convergent parallel design depends on demonstrating convergence in construct meaning, spatial location, and consistency in values in the sampling populations.

The ethics of offsetting nature

Biodiversity offsetting is transforming conservation practice around the world. Development activities that degrade or destroy biodiversity at one location are now increasingly acceptable because of compensatory environmental gains generated elsewhere. This change represents a major shift in how nature is protected, and yet its philosophical justification has received little attention. We argue that biodiversity offsetting aligns most easily with a utilitarian ethic, where outcomes rather than actions are the focus. However, offsetting schemes often neglect to account for the multiple values that people assign to biodiversity – including unique, place‐based values. Furthermore, the implications of defining nature as a tradeable commodity may affect our sense of obligation to protect biodiversity. Ironically, offsetting may exacerbate environmental harm because it erodes ethical barriers based on moral objections to the destruction of biodiversity. By failing to consider the ethical implications of biodiversity offsetting, we risk compromising the underlying motivations for protecting nature.

Relationships between spatial and non-spatial preferences and place-based values in national forests

The management of multiple-use public lands such as national forests in the U.S. is controversial because of the wide range of potential uses and contested public values for these lands. Previous research on national forest values and management preferences examined these relationships non-spatially. The development of public participation GIS (PPGIS) and volunteered geographic information (VGI) systems provide new opportunities to assess spatial relationships between perceived national forest values and preferred uses. This research used empirical data collected from a PPGIS/VGI study for three national forests in California to examine spatial and non-spatial relationships between place-based forest values and preferred uses. The relationships suggest public participants translated some of their non-spatial forest values and preferences into behavioral choices when mapping place-specific values and preferred uses. The empirical relationships between place-based forest values and uses were generally consistent with previous survey research results. Positive, non-spatial attitudes toward extractive uses of national forests were correlated with participant mapping of economic values and related extractive uses, while nonmaterial forest attitudes were correlated with participant mapping of amenity values and conservation-related uses. Further, spatial preferences for extractive forest uses such as timber harvesting were mapped proximate to economic values, while nonmaterial spatial preferences were mapped proximate to amenity-related forest values. PPGIS offers the potential to translate philosophical and ideology-based national forest preferences into place-specific discourse about forest management activities where public accommodation may be more achievable.

The relationship between social values for ecosystem services and global land cover: An empirical analysis

Considerable effort has been directed into separate but related research foci—the study of ecosystem services and participatory mapping methods. The two research foci intersect in the mapping of place-based values, an operational form of social values for ecosystem services that uses public participation GIS (PPGIS) methods. The social valuation of ecosystem services through participatory mapping offers an alternative valuation approach to economic valuation of ecosystem services. This study analyzes the spatial associations between global land cover which provides a proxy indicator of ecosystem services, and place-based values from 11 PPGIS studies completed in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand that comprise a diverse set of temperate ecoregions. Key findings include: the highest frequencies of social values for ecosystem services were associated with forested land cover; water bodies were highly valuable relative to area occupied; and agricultural land and areas of permanent snow and ice were least valuable. Most land cover classes demonstrated high diversity of social values. The importance of different land cover types varies based on the selected evaluation criteria. Additional research is needed to determine whether economic and social valuation approaches provide complementary, contradictory, or redundant measures of the importance of landscapes for providing ecosystem services.