Sense Of Place Research Articles

Towards an Emplaced Vocabulary of Motive: Senses of Place and Land Sale Decision‐Making in the Northern Great Plains*

AbstractOne of the most remote regions in the contiguous United States, the Upper Missouri River Breaks in the Northern Great Plains of Montana is both “cattle country” and “pristine prairie”: an identity that brings repeated tension over land use. Over the last twenty years, a conservation organization with a mission to rewild the region has purchased thousands of acres of ranchland from willing sellers despite widespread agricultural community resistance. In this study, I interview those who chose to sell and those who chose to stay, and I ask how landowners justify their decisions to sell, or not sell, their land. By using what C. Wright Mills calls “vocabularies of motive,” I investigate two central questions. The first asks why a landowner would sell land against what social norms would dictate to be “right.” The second asks why a landowner would not sell land, given the perceived inevitable eventual loss of a regional agricultural livelihood. I suggest one way to understand these questions is by considering how senses of place shape what decision‐makers believe to be the most justifiable course of action. Extending the vocabulary of motive framework to include senses of place better informs the understanding of land sale decision‐making. Though deeply contextual, the themes running through this case (i.e., ongoing existential threats to the agricultural industry, booms in the buying power of private philanthropists, and decision making in socially and politically contentious spaces) are relevant to a broader understanding of shifts within agricultural communities and the ongoing perceived “battle” between production and conservation.

Incorporating sense of place into the management of marine protected areas: A case study from New South Wales, Australia

Marine social-ecological systems are experiencing rapid changes across the globe due to a range of threats such as climate change and exploitation (e.g. overfishing). Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are one tool to support the sustainable management of marine systems and resources, however, they are often implemented with mixed success, with one of the key critiques being a lack of consideration of social dimensions. To address this, there have been increased calls for greater consideration of a broad range of social factors, alongside environmental factors in the planning and management of MPAs. One phenomenon that stands to greatly inform and influence the success of MPA management is Sense of Place (SoP), that is, an individual or groups' emotional bond with a given place. While the importance and relevance of SoP is beginning to be acknowledged in the environmental academic literature, there are no documented examples of the phenomenon being incorporated into marine policy or management in a meaningful way. This study seeks to explore why this is the case and how it may be addressed. We achieve this through a case study approach, conducting in depth interviews with decision-makers involved in the management of the New South Wales Marine Estate (i.e. MPA managers), exploring i) their understanding of SoP, ii) their experience in incorporating it into policy, iii) the barriers and iv) enablers in doing so. Results show that despite a limited understanding of SoP, most participants do consider it to be important for marine policy and management and many have attempted to include it in their management efforts, although these attempts are largely centred around general consideration of social values and including diverse voices in policy discussion, as opposed to direct inclusion of SoP per se. A broad range of barriers to incorporating SoP into MPA management were also identified with political barriers, the ambiguity of the concept and challenges in having social values ‘win out’ against economic realities being the most common. Enablers were less commonly identified by study participants, and included the use of SoP as a tool or boundary object to develop shared understandings between stakeholders. We conclude by emphasizing the need for further research on how to improve the incorporation of SoP into MPA management, and outline how this may be achieved through the study of bright spots.

Symbolism, purpose, identity, relation, emotion: Unpacking the SPIREs of sense of place across digital and physical spaces

When personal meaning and knowing emerge for a space, that space moves beyond a labeled locale to become a place such that one develops an idiosyncratic knowing or Sense of Place (SoP). Decades of scholarship have animated understandings of SoP for locales, however that work is inconsistent in operationalizing the construct and largely limited to positively valenced, physical spaces. To begin addressing those shortcomings, we (a) synthesize extant scholarship to propose a SPIREs framework for SoP (comprising symbolism, purpose, identity, relation, and emotion dimensions) and (b) conduct a descriptive study of SoP dimensions across physical and digital, positively and negatively valenced spaces. Our analysis induced a hierarchy of complex themes and subthemes for each dimension—findings that point to SoP's conceptual independence from valence and materiality and its likely polythetic structure.

Sense of place as anticolonial pedagogy in outdoor adventure education: lessons learned

ABSTRACT This paper suggested that one way that ongoing issues of equity and justice in outdoor adventure education (OAE) is prioritized is through the critical renovation of sense of place (SOP) curriculum. The researcher shared findings from a qualitative study that considered participant experiences as a way to understand how SOP in the outdoors can serve as a site of anticolonial intervention for OAE to address issues of equity. This study employed an anticolonial and anti-racial capitalist theoretical framework and qualitative description as its methodology. Findings were interpreted as: 1. An uncritical SOP in OAE perpetuates inequity, 2. By theorizing power OAE practitioners can renovate SOP curriculum towards anticolonial aims, and 3. A renovated SOP curriculum can become a site of anticolonial intervention and underscores the importance of offering students ways to affect change. The research generated possible paths forward for practitioners in OAE concerning equity and SOP curriculum and practice.

How well does nature contact promote academic achievement in geography? The serial multiple mediating effects of sense of place and geospatial thinking

ABSTRACT Current studies emphasise that nature plays a key role in geography education. However, little research has been devoted to elucidating the underlying mechanisms by which nature contact (NC) influences academic achievement. With the aim of filling this gap, this study provides a serial multiple mediator model that examines how contact with nature promotes academic achievement in geography (AAG) and is further associated with the serial multiple mediating effect of students’ sense of place (SOP) and geospatial thinking (GT). A self-report questionnaire was administered to 885 senior high-school students in China. The results indicated that the positive association between NC and students’ AAG was not only mediated by an SOP and GT but also serially mediated by an SOP and GT. The findings and details are valuable for educational researchers and practising teachers, as they extend our understanding of the factors influencing AAG and how they correlate with geography learning processes.

Bridging senses of place and mobilities scholarships to inform social-ecological systems governance: A research agenda

Uncertainty and change are increasingly commonplace as communities respond to impacts of social-ecological change including climate change, and dangerous levels of pollution. Given the extent of these crises, new approaches are needed to support responses. Here we identify challenges and discuss insights that the nexus of Senses of place (SoP) and mobilities research offers in navigating such uncertainty. We conducted a two-round Delphi, followed by a workshop, and collaborative writing process with a global network of researchers with expertise in either or both SoP and mobilities research. Participants identified five challenges at the place-mobility nexus that emerge when a social-ecological system is disrupted. We use the 2022 Odra River fish die-off to exemplify the identified challenges: 1) accounting for power dynamics, inequalities and motility; 2) doing justice to more-than human actors; 3) integrating multiple and sometimes nested spatial scales; 4) considering temporalities of place and mobilities, and 5) embracing multisensoriality. To address these challenges, we recommend drawing on diverse methods and knowledge co-creation processes that combine more-than-human perspectives, multisensoriality, and engage in the dynamic relations between places to understand people-place disruptions in the face of socio-spatial precarity. Addressing such knowledge gaps requires stronger collaboration of mobilities and place researchers.

Understanding farmers’ adoption of diversified crop rotations in South Dakota, USA: an examination of the roles of sense of place and social responsibility

ABSTRACT Diversified crop rotations can be a win-win solution for farmers and society given increased agronomic yield and improved ecosystem services. However, the adoption of sustainable production practices must be widespread and accelerated to create resilient agroecosystems that can remain productive as the climate changes. In this paper, we use modified measures of sense of place (SOP) and social responsibility (SR) to investigate the factors that influence the adoption of diversified crop rotations (DCR) among producers in South Dakota (SD). Data was collected from 34 SD counties east of the Missouri River. Through the application of exploratory factor analysis (EFA), we identified 3 constructs of SOP on working landscapes 1) place attachment and identity, 2) social networks, and 3) physical place dependence. Using a binary logistic regression, a positive association between the adoption of DCR and place attachment and identity was found. This suggests that farmers have an emotional bond to their land that plays a role in their usage of DCR. Our results suggest that measuring some dimensions of SOP in a working landscape context is important, but needs more refinement, specifically economic dependence, given that the items measuring it did not emerge as a factor in the EFA.

Attraction and Retention Green Place Images of Taipei City

This study investigates levels of green place image and their association with different types of greenspace by examining residents’ perceptions of urban greenspaces. Place image refers to an individual’s comprehensive perception of a location, formed through various interactions, and it encompasses two distinct aspects: attraction and retention. The former can be established without extensive interaction, while the latter requires deeper physical and psychological connections, such as a sense of place (SOP) and place identity (PI). Although much research on urban greenspaces has concentrated on the retention aspect, focusing on residents’ psychological, physical, social, and environmental engagements, the attraction dimension, including place brand (PB), visual image (VI), and place reputation (PR), has been less explored. This study collected data from 536 on-site surveys across four types of urban greenspaces in Taipei city: small-size greenspaces, neighborhood parks, multipurpose parks, and green corridors, and they were analyzed through factor analysis (FA) and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) using R software (R-4.3.3). The FA identifies two factors and their significant sub-attributes aligning with theoretical findings, i.e., attraction and retention. Further analysis using MANOVA determines that the multipurpose park is the most influential type of greenspace, significantly affecting urban residents’ development of positive green place images. These findings highlight the importance of perceiving urban greenspaces as critical areas for multi-dimensional stakeholders, suggesting a balanced approach to development and management that emphasizes both attraction and retention strategies as well as nature and built facilities.

Incorporating sense of place into the management of social-ecological systems: The researchers' perspectives.

As the world around us changes, so too do the bonds that people have with their environment. These environmental bonds, or Senses of Place (SoP), are a key component of social-ecological systems (SESs). SoP has social, psychological and economic value, it impacts how people use and behave in an environment and how they respond to changes such as those caused by anthropogenic pressures. Despite this connection, the consideration and application of SoP in the management of SESs remains relatively under explored. This study takes the first step in addressing that gap by investigating the perceptions of researchers in the field. We achieve this by interviewing SoP researchers from around the globe to elucidate whether they see SoP as valuable for the management of SES. We also identify their perspectives on the barriers to, and enablers of, incorporating SoP into policy and management. Results show while researchers do see the value in incorporating SoP into policy, there are a range of barriers that impact this, most notably, the intangible nature of the phenomena and shortcomings of current governance systems. Results also identify a range of enablers that could improve the incorporation of SoP into policy-particularly through improved engagement and communication between stakeholders. These findings represent a first step in the formal inclusion of this social value into the management of SES.

An Evolving Understanding of Sense of Place in Social-Ecological Systems Research and the Barriers and Enablers to its Measurement.

Social-ecological systems (SES) are changing more in the Anthropocene than ever before. With this also comes a change in Sense of Place (SoP), that is, the emotional bond that a person (or group of people) has with a place. This impacts how individuals and groups interact with a place (i.e., their behaviours) and respond to disturbance or change (i.e., their adaptive capacity). To understand how SoP is changing across space and time and to be able to compare this across social-ecological contexts, we must first take stock of how SoP is conceptualised so as to understand how to capture and measure the phenomena in a meaningful way (e.g., to inform policy). Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with leading SoP researchers (n = 17 from 8 countries) this paper aims to identify: (1) the current breadth of theoretical conceptualisations for SoP; (2) the methodologies that have been used to measure SoP in different contexts and settings; and (3) the barriers and (4) enablers to the use of different methodologies. Results show that there has been a change in how SoP has been conceptualised over time, whereby it was traditionally considered as something singular and limited, towards something much more dynamic. Results also show that diverse methods (both quantitative and qualitative) have been used to measure SoP, but the choice of method is often a result of resource constraints that limit research design. These findings suggest that broader collaboration among stakeholders and increased interdisciplinarity would undoubtedly lead to improved outcomes in our understanding of SoP, specifically how it is changing in response to anthropogenic pressures, and how the results can be integrated into policy and practice to support environment conservation and management. It is hoped these findings can help establish a community of practice around how we conceptualise SoP, and hence understand it, to create space for methodological integration and shared learnings as a field.

How does the neighbourhood environment influence migrants' subjective well‐being in urban China?

AbstractThis study investigates the role of sense of place (SoP) in the relationship between the neighbourhood environment (NE) and subjective well‐being (SWB), focusing on Chinese migrants who face spatial and cultural displacement. Beyond previous research, we further consider the influence of residential length. Surveying 716 migrants in Wuhan in 2018, we explore the dynamic place mechanisms underlying the association between the NE and SWB. Our findings reveal that the physical and social aspects of the NE, particularly walkability and social integration, significantly impact migrants' SWB. Moreover, SoP mediates the relationship between the NE and SWB, highlighting the social production function of people and places in communities. Long‐term residence does not directly affect migrants' SWB, yet just indirectly influence SWB through SoP. This underscores the ongoing pertinence and significance of SoP, connecting residential stability to positive social implications. This study concludes that the place mechanism underlying the association between the NE and migrants' SWB operates both through migrants' emotional connections to a specific place (SoP) and the reinforcement of place experience resulting from a longer duration of residence. To establish inclusive communities, we propose planning and governance measures that enhance space quality, empower neighbourhoods to foster SoP, strengthen residential stability, and improve migrants' SWB.

360° Digital Travel to Improve Emotional State and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Presence and Sense of Place.

The continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decline in people's subjective well-being and emotional states. Digital travel based on 360° videos provides an alternate way for people to improve their mental health at home during this specific period. Yet, how to construct effective digital travel content that improves emotions remains an issue. This investigation assessed the impact of people's perceived presence and sense of place (SOP) on emotional improvement during a 360° digital travel experience. A total of 156 undergraduate students volunteered to participate, and anxiety, emotion levels, and life satisfaction were measured before and after the digital travel experience; presence and SOP ratings were also collected after the experience. A Latent Change Score model was then developed, and the results indicated that the greater presence and SOP individuals experienced during their digital travel, the better their digital travel experience and emotional improvement. Furthermore, the current data highlight that SOP has a greater impact on emotional improvement than presence. This result provides a novel understanding that how SOP is generated may be more critical to digital travel than presence. This new understanding should help improve relevant applications in the field of digital travel, such as the possibility of providing meaningful narrative context in a virtual environment to induce SOP more effectively, and improve the digital travel experience. Overall, the findings of this study expand our understanding of the digital travel experience and lay the groundwork for future research on SOP and digital travel.

Senses of Place: The Black Community in Alice Childress's Wedding Band

Abstract: Alice Childress's Wedding Band (1966), set in an unnamed Black South Carolina community in 1918, dwells upon Julia's loneliness, caused by her interracial love, which is forbidden by the state's law against miscegenation. Julia's anxiety about being transgressive fosters her desire to belong to a community characterized by Black women's culture and their sense of place. Her quest for a place in society highlights the segregated community's need for a specifically Black space. Wedding Band complicates the interlocking system of oppression by addressing the notion of place and also demonstrates that Black women are not passive in respect to their surroundings.

Senses of Place: The Black Community in Alice Childress's Wedding Band

Abstract: Alice Childress's Wedding Band (1966), set in an unnamed Black South Carolina community in 1918, dwells upon Julia's loneliness, caused by her interracial love, which is forbidden by the state's law against miscegenation. Julia's anxiety about being transgressive fosters her desire to belong to a community characterized by Black women's culture and their sense of place. Her quest for a place in society highlights the segregated community's need for a specifically Black space. Wedding Band complicates the interlocking system of oppression by addressing the notion of place and also demonstrates that Black women are not passive in respect to their surroundings.

(Re)Making Sense of Place in Outdoor Adventure Education

Background: Research in outdoor adventure education (OAE) and related fields has argued that OAE programming can problematically reproduce dominant ways of being around patriarchy and whiteness. In particular, scholars have forwarded specific critiques of sense of place (SOP) in OAE or related fields. Purpose: This article investigated and critiqued SOP as a fundamental curricular concept and offered an anticolonial analytical tool for educators. The article posited that SOP is a key site of intervention for OAE educators and programs with anticolonial goals because of the historical, sociocultural, and economic foundations of SOP in OAE. Methodology/Approach: This study employed an anticolonial and antiracial capitalist theoretical framework and qualitative methods including thematic study of select literature on environmental conservation and colonialism, analysis of fundamentals of anticolonial pedagogical frameworks, and interview findings from mentor-partners in OAE and related fields. Findings/Conclusions: This study developed an anticolonial analytical tool to understand and interpret SOP in OAE through an anticolonial lens. Implications: The purpose of this tool is to assist practitioners and educators in the analysis of their own SOP pedagogy and practices and to encourage the development of SOP curricula toward anticolonial aims.

Deterritorialization in the context of cultural heritage and globalizing Msheireb downtown Doha

The State of Qatar has witnessed rapid urban activity and development in the decades since the discovery of oil, which has led to a large-scale change in the local cultural heritage and behavior of its residents. This uncontrolled rapid urbanization, along with the acceleration of globalization and modernity that has encompassed all areas, especially the city of Doha, has led to the deterioration and destruction of the downtown area of Msheireb. These transformations threaten the identity and local culture of Qatari society, affecting the place's sense of identity. The country's authorities have rushed to implement strategies and development plans aimed at redeveloping the old city center and improving the environment by creating innovative and inspiring living spaces that enable both locals and foreigners to communicate and integrate with one another to restore a sense of community. This study addresses the “Msheireb Downton Doha” project and the consequences of globalization. The study examines the concept of “deterritorialization” as a cultural condition that has pushed Msheireb Downtown Doha from modernity to postmodernism as an element of globalization. In this study, we will analyze the reconstruction of Msheireb, which helped to move the city toward cultural universality while simultaneously reducing regional borders. The study will analyze the extent to which this process succeeded or failed in preserving the spirit of the area's traditional architectural heritage and cultural identity in a manner that reflects the genuine sentiments and values of Qatari society.

Testing the Affect of Modified Sense of Place, Conservation Ethic, and Good Farmer Identity Measures on Predicting the Adoption of Cover Crops in Working Landscapes in Iowa

While sense of place (SOP) has been used in amenity landscapes to understand pro-environmental behavior, in working landscapes, SOP has not been a valid or reliable predictor for explaining conservation behavior. In this paper, we advance theory on SOP in working landscapes by assessing the relationship between several new and modified sense of place measures and farmer adoption of cover crops in Iowa. We used data from a 2018 survey of Iowa farmers and a Bayesian logistic regression, finding that physical dependence and economic dependence are distinct dimensions of SOP in working landscapes and the addition of a measure beyond SOP of who farmers feel responsible to when making land management decisions provides insights on how social groups are influential in farmers’ decision-making. Our results suggest the SOP conceptual framework has the potential to help explain conservation behavior in working landscapes, and identifies opportunities for further reconceptualization and testing.

Environmental social science and urban environment management: A review of pathways link- ing policies and planning to citizens living by the river

Urban environment management (UEM) and environmental social science (ESS) are two interconnected approaches that show significant potential for creating more sustainable and liveable cities. Their research has, however, been mainly disjointed, which may be because planning and policy have placed more emphasis on UEM than ESS at the same time. This research examined ESS in terms of the quality of life (QOL) criteria and sense of place (SOP) of citizens living by the river with the UEM intervention in the form of policies and programmes. The effects of fieldwork in the form of specialised and spatial interviews are presented in this research, which is usually ignored in the literature review of this type of analysis. The study aims to fill the current gap in this field in three European capitals by providing a reflective methodological account of fieldwork and the ‘elite interviewing’ approach. This paper produces a distinct form of the localisation of the research and sampling techniques and is as new, interactive and developing as possible. The results of the present study are underpinned by the conceptual model of research, which supports the main aim of this analysis and tries to examine the components of research in a new perspective. The findings high- lighted that maintaining and strengthening ESS for citizens living next to rivers require innovative UEM, which uses urban creativity in the field of goals, urban settlements, strategies and management solutions to provide the base for increasing the liveability of the city and improving the quality of urban life.

Relationship between Visitors’ Sense of Place, Recreation Behavior, and Acceptability of Resource Allocation Strategies at a Reservoir Facing a Water Crisis

Municipal drawdowns at public reservoirs can negatively impact recreational uses on site. Therefore, sustaining recreation requires understanding how users relate themselves with the reservoir and the resource therein, and how they will respond to circumstances and policies impacting the resource. Researchers use placedbased theory, particularly sense of place (SOP), to assess the user community’s perspective on the natural resource or recreation site of interest. This study utilized visitor survey data (n=282) from Canton Reservoir in Oklahoma to assess visitors’ sense of place (SOP), and to evaluate the relationship of SOP with their acceptability of alternative water allocation strategies and future intention of visiting the reservoir under depleted water conditions. Visitors had a high level of SOP with the reservoir and supported protective water allocation strategies that either favor the retention of water on-site or ensure a fair distribution between recreation and municipal use. Results suggest a positive relationship between visitors' SOP and their intended trips to the reservoir even under depleted water conditions. The findings highlight the psychological, functional, and emotional benefits associated with the recreational use of the Canton Reservoir, which will in turn help managers make more informed and balanced decisions about water conservation and allocation. Insights from this study will also contribute in literature on the sense of place and protective norms and offers several implications for the management of public reservoirs.

Identifying the Spatial Imbalance in the Supply and Demand of Cultural Ecosystem Services.

Cultural ecosystem services (CESs) are an important part of ecosystem services (ESs). Correctly understanding the supply and demand relationship of CES is the premise of ES sustainable management and helps to improve human well-being. However, the evaluation and mapping of CES supply and demand represents a significant gap in ES research. Using the Shigou Township of Mizhi County in China as an example, in this study, we evaluated CES supply and demand at the village scale. We first considered three aspects of supply potential, accessibility and quality to construct an indicator system of six types of CES supply, including aesthetic (Aest), sense of place (SP), social relations (SR), cultural heritage (Cult), education (Edu) and recreation (Recr) and obtained demand data through a questionnaire. Then, we identified the imbalance in the supply and demand of CES by Z-score standardization based on the quantification of the CES supply and demand. Secondly, bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis was used to identify tradeoffs/synergies on the CES supply side, and chi-square tests were used to identify CES demand differences between stakeholder groups. The results indicated that the supply–demand patterns of CES presented evident spatial differences. The low-supply–high-demand patterns of Aest, SR and Recr accounted for the largest proportions, with values of 33.33%, 33.33% and 30.95%, respectively. The low-supply–low-demand patterns of SP and Cult accounted for the largest proportions, with values of 30.95% and 38.10%, respectively. The low-supply–low-demand pattern of Edu accounted for the smallest proportion (21.43%) and was mainly located in the south of Shigou Township. The southwest, northeast and central areas of Shigou Township were the key regions of tradeoffs/synergies of CES supply. There were significant differences in CES demand for SR, Cult and Edu among stakeholder groups. The results could contribute to optimizing regional ecosystem management and provide effective information for improving the imbalance between the supply and demand of CES.