Abstract
Place attachment has been acknowledged as an important factor in mobility decision-making. However, it has not yet been explored in the context of permanent relocation in coastal communities due to accelerated flooding. The literature shows that people may be more committed to staying in place versus moving elsewhere in response to stressors if they have a stronger place attachment. Such sentiments may deter residents from considering relocation regardless of the effectiveness of this strategy in addressing the flood risk. This paper aims to develop a new approach for the spatial assessment of coastal locations based on their place attachment characteristics that will help indicate how different places may respond to the possibility of flood-driven relocation. We first conducted a structured literature review to identify the appropriate indicators of place attachment in the context of coastal flooding and population mobility. Next, we evaluated the literature's content to identify study characteristics such as methodological approach, geographic focus and attributes deemed important determinants of place attachment. Based on this analysis, we developed a coastal relocation place attachment index consisting of sixteen indicators and applied it to six coastal rural and urban locations in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The indicators were aggregated and mapped to show the spatial distribution of the relocation place attachment index in the case study locations. The results show a significant variation in place attachment attributes between rural and urban locations, with rural locations having an overall higher place attachment than urban areas.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 102758 |
| Journal | Applied Geography |
| Volume | 146 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2022 |
Funding
This material is based upon work supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research , which is a major facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. 1852977. Within the literature, the sense of place and place attachment are the principal terms used to describe how humans relate to their living places. Definition of sense of place varies across the literature but is generally described as a social construct that captures various meanings, beliefs, values, and feelings individuals use to associate with a specific place (Williams & Stewart, 1998). Sense of place represents an overarching concept that encompasses place attachment (a degree to which people are attracted to their places) and place-meaning (reasons why they are attracted to places), both of which are interpreted differently across various geographic scales (Kudryavtsev et al., 2012). It is also defined as an umbrella term that includes place attachment, place identity, and place dependence (Chamlee-Wright & Storr, 2009Chamlee-Wright & Storr, 2009; Raymond et al., 2010; Brown et al., 2015). Sense of place is multidimensional, dynamic, and variable across time and space (Massey, 2010; Williams & Stewart, 1998), changing with people's perceptions of and experiences in place stemming from environmental, sociocultural, political, economic, or esthetic changes (Kudryavtsev et al., 2012). Morehead City (2019) suggest there is a need to expand the more restricted theoretical interpretation of place attachment to a broader understanding that captures additional dimensions of this term and, as such, supports its relevance in the mobility discourse across different disciplines. Consequently, this paper conceptualizes place attachment as a broader term describing the emotional bond between people and places, similar to more comprehensive definitions proposed by, for example, Giuliani (2003) and Bonaiuto et al. (2016). It recognizes its multidimensional nature that encompasses a range of deeply personal, intervening, and place-based determinants (as described in, for example, the framework proposed by Scannell and Gifford (2010).This material is based upon work supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which is a major facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. 1852977.
Keywords
- Coastal
- Displacement
- Migration
- Place attachment
- Relocation
- Sea level rise
- Sense of place