Evaluating the Relationship between Place Attachment, Residential Evaluations and Satisfaction in a Medium-sized Romanian City

Abstract

The present research aimed at researching the relationships among place attachment, residential evaluations and satisfaction in a medium-sized post-communist Romanian city. Studies on post-communist cities are scarce and this research tried to fill that gap. This research is part of a government project that intended to significantly reform three medium-sized cities in the Western part of Romania and transform the urban space. Since the three of them are relatively small-sized and close spatially, the project intends to undertake massive reforms of the communications and services of the three cities. In this article, we report findings on the city of Hunedoara. A representative random sample was selected, and a total of 384 people were interviewed, with an overall reliability of the sample of 95%. The instruments used to gather the data were the Neighbourhood Perceived Environmental Quality Scale and a composite measure of place attachment was also included. The structure of each scale was checked using exploratory factor analysis. We tested alternative causal models using structural equations modelling. Our model showed a good fit to the data and explains satisfaction in the city adequately. Results show that satisfaction is directly predicted by the general evaluation of the city and by residential privacy. Residential noise and place attachment influence satisfaction indirectly. The results are discussed and some policy recommendations are formulated.