Place Attachment

Abstract

Place attachment is the bond that people develop to places and is integral to identity development. Theorists have proposed that there are four processes associated with the formation and maintenance of place attachment: (a) biological, (b) environmental, (c) psychological, and (d) sociocultural. Within the biological process, a place offers an individual food and space to live. On the other hand, the environmental process denotes the interface between the person and environment, such as how an individual interacts with the environment's resources, adapts to the constraints of the environment, and experiences the impact of the environment on her or his development. The psychological process encompasses how the environment functions as a safe haven and secure base for the individual, and includes the memories, meaning, and affect attached to the place. Finally, the sociocultural process of place attachment focuses on the impact of culture, sociopolitical, and historical sources.

Place and place names: a unified model

“…1; Mocnik, 2022 ); however, proposals tend to diverge on working terms and notions. The notion of “place attachment” has received the most attention in psychology ( Smith, 2017 ; Manzo and Devine-Wright, 2021 ), sociology ( Low and Altman, 1992 ; Low, 2016 ) and anthropology ( Fitch, 2014 ; Harun et al, 2015 ), among others. Place attachment studies investigate how groups and individuals can develop forms of attachment to places by dynamically fostering (place) concepts.…”