Scale and sense of place among urban dwellers

Abstract

Place connections are core to being human: Every person lives in, and thus has direct experience of, at least one place and likely of numerous places throughout a lifetime. Sense of place—or the meanings, knowledge, and bonds that arise from the biophysical, social, and political–economic aspects of places—in turn influences people's interactions with those places. Of particular interest to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, such interactions can impact place‐protective, stewardship, or conservation behaviors. However, how sense of place develops and what it represents is shifting in today's rapidly urbanizing, globalizing world. Especially when considering the integrated social–ecological context, questions related to how sense of place forms and is enacted in urban settings and at a range of geographic scales are challenging to study. Our study addresses this dynamic space: We examined how people's place connections intersect with their notions of geographic scale and levels of urbanity. Specifically, we conducted a 1201‐person randomized telephone survey in the San Francisco Bay Area ecoregion of California, USA, to explore how sense of place varies by (1) the scale of what people consider to be their place, and (2) the urbanity of where people live. In comparison with respondents who perceived their place as the larger‐scale ecoregion, we found that respondents who perceived their place as primarily focused on the urban area rated their connection to the biophysical aspects of place (the plants, animals, and landscape‐related elements) lower. Similarly, overall, respondents who lived in urban areas rated their connections to the biophysical aspects of place lower than did respondents who lived in non‐urban areas. Our findings suggest the importance of encouraging conceptualizations of place at broader geographic scales and, particularly, of supporting notions of urban spaces that stretch beyond urban boundaries. We also call for supporting increased engagement with urban nature, especially among residents of urban areas.

Shapeshifting attachment: Exploring multi‐dimensional people–place bonds in place‐based citizen science

“…Our re-analysis indicates that scale is a crucial concept in PAT, not only defining the geographical or spatial extent individuals realize connection to place (sensu Ardoin, 2014;Ardoin et al, 2012;Ardoin et al, 2019) but also specific to the community and natural environment dimensions. We refer to these latter two concepts as social scaling and nature-science 'conceptual grain' (Figure 4).…”

“…Cuba & Hummon, 1993;Hidalgo & Hernandez, 2001;Lewicka, 2010), PAT scholarship has largely avoided an explicit examination of the role of scale. Ardoin and colleagues (Ardoin, 2014;Ardoin et al, 2012Ardoin et al, , 2019 have pioneered an examination of spatial scaling related to sense of place, building on the earlier work of Hidalgo and Hernandez (2001). Ardoin 2014…”

“…Cuba & Hummon, 1993; Hidalgo & Hernandez, 2001; Lewicka, 2010), PAT scholarship has largely avoided an explicit examination of the role of scale. Ardoin and colleagues (Ardoin, 2014; Ardoin et al., 2012, 2019) have pioneered an examination of spatial scaling related to sense of place, building on the earlier work of Hidalgo and Hernandez (2001). Ardoin (2014) examined the role of scale in place attachment versus environmental action, assessing place attachment at three different geographical scales: the immediate ‘local’ area, a ‘medium’ regional scale and a larger ‘ecoregion’ scale (a contiguous area defined by similarity of landscape and biodiversity).…”

“…Ardoin et al. (2019) found that the strength which individuals espoused a biophysical attachment (akin to nature bonding within the three‐dimensional construct) to place varied as a positive function of their personal definition of place scale, and secondarily as a positive function of participant income.…”

Субъективная Оценка Мест Жителями Санкт-Петербурга

“…Выводы свидетельствуют о важности поощрения концептуализации места в более широких географических масштабах и, в частности, поддержки представлений о городских пространствах, простирающихся за пределы городских границ. Авторы также призывают поддерживать более активное взаимодействие с городской природой, особенно среди жителей городских районов (Ardoin, Gould, Lukacs, Sponarski, & Schuh, 2019).…”