Dissertation

2.3 Place Attachment Individuals have the capability to form an emotional attachment to numerous things, hence likewise they can also form attachment and connection with the environment and places around them. Existing studies reveal that the growth of human societies, development of technological advances, globalization, increased mobility, and encroaching environmental problems (Scannell and Gifford, 2010) has threatened the person–place relationships. Hence it becomes significant to understand the concept of place attachment in order to learn what draws individuals to a place, and to better predict how users and visitors may react to place (Ednie et al., 2010).

Altman and Low have described place attachment as an effective link between individuals and their environments which consists of interactions between effect and emotions, knowledge and beliefs and behaviors and actions regarding a setting.(ALTMAN AND LOW, 1992) While Hummon described place attachment as an emotional investment with a place.(HUMMON, D. M., 1992) Shumaker and Taylor contended that place attachment is an individual-place connection that develops from characteristics of people and specifiable conditions of setting. (SHUMAKER, S. A. & TAYLOR, R. B., 1983)Existing studies suggest that although affect, emotion, and feeling are the most commonly reported main ideas of place attachment, but it also has other features such as cognitive and behavioral aspects. It means, in addition to the feelings that people have about a place, they hold certain beliefs or memories about it, and act certain ways in places.(Najafi, 2011) Manzo argued that our experiences and memories create place meaning explaining that ―it is not simply the places themselves that are significant, but rather what can be called „experiencein-place‟ that creates meaning‖.(MANZO, L. C., 2005) Besides, it is also identified as a state of psychological well-being resulting from accessibility to a place or a state of distress upon separation from a place or remoteness from a place. (GIULIANI, & FELDMAN, 1993) Place can also be signified by connecting the memories of a significant event occurring in a specific place, where these meanings form the foundation for place attachment.(MANZO, L. C., 2005) People-place interactions are frequently shaped through psychological procedures as opposed to physical contacts suggesting that in order to make strong emotional bonds with the places, it‘s not important to have 10 | P a g e