Search Results (823)

This study explores the practice of “soundtalking”, a novel method of participant-led sound practice, across the Dee Estuary in the UK. Over the course of twelve months, the Our Dee Estuary Project facilitated monthly meetings where participants engaged in sound workshops, in-depth discussions, and sound-making activities, with the aim of fostering a deeper connection with both their local and sonic environments. This longitudinal practice-based research study created an environment of sonic learning and listening development, documenting how participants’ interactions and narratives both shape and are shaped by the estuarial environment, its soundscape, and their sense of place. Participant-led conversations formed the basis of the methodology, providing rich qualitative data on how individuals perceive, interpret, and interact with their surroundings and the impact that the soundscape has on the individual. The regular and unstructured discussions revealed the intrinsic value of soundscapes in participants’ lives, emphasising themes of memory, reflection, place attachment, environmental awareness, and well-being. The collaborative nature of the project allowed for the co-creation of a film and a radio soundscape, both of which serve as significant outputs, encapsulating the auditory and emotional essence of the estuary. The study’s initial findings indicate that “soundtalking” as a practice not only enhances participants’ auditory perception but also fosters a sense of community and belonging. The regularity of monthly meetings facilitated the development of a shared acoustic vocabulary and experience among participants, which in turn enriched their collective and individual experiences of the estuary. Soundtalking is proposed as an additional tool in the study of soundscapes to complement and extend more commonly implemented methods, such as soundwalking and soundsitting. Soundtalking demonstrates the efficacy of longitudinal, participant-led approaches in capturing the dynamic and lived experiences of soundscapes and their associated environments, over methods that only create fleeting short-term engagements with the soundscape. In conclusion, the Our Dee Estuary Project demonstrates the transformative potential of soundtalking in deepening our understanding of human–environment interactions and, in addition, has shown that there are both health and well-being aspects that arise from the practice. Beyond this, the project has output a film and a radio sound piece, which not only document but also celebrate the intricate and evolving relationship between the participants and the estuarine soundscape, offering valuable insights for future soundscape research and community engagement initiatives. Full article

In the evolving discourse of affective urbanism, emotions are increasingly recognized as fundamental, systemic drivers shaping the social, perceptual, and symbolic dimensions of urban space. Meanwhile, advances in visual technologies and media aesthetics have transformed contemporary cities into visually saturated environments, where visual cues actively influence how urban space is perceived, navigated, and emotionally experienced. While prior research has addressed affective belonging and spatial identity, these studies often treat emotion and visual design as separate influences rather than examining their interdependent, systemic roles. To address this gap, this study develops an emotion-driven systemic model to analyze how visual design activates affective pathways that contribute to the sustainable construction of place branding. Drawing on survey data from 134 residents in Wuxi, China, we employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine the interrelations among emotionally durable visual design, urban emotion, and place branding. The results reveal that visual attachment design (VAD) significantly strengthens place branding through emotional mediation, while visual behavior design (VBD) directly enhances sustainable branding by fostering participatory engagement even without emotional mediation. In contrast, visual function design (VFD) demonstrates limited impact, underscoring its insufficiency as a stand-alone strategy. These findings underscore the value of modeling emotionally durable visual communication as a system that links emotion, behavior, and identity in citizen-centered place branding. Full article

This study examines the relationships among motivation, satisfaction, place attachment, and revisit intention in the context of ecotourism in the Ayabaca Moorlands, a biodiverse Andean ecosystem of high cultural significance in northern Peru. Using a non-experimental quantitative design, data were collected from 350 national and international visitors and analyzed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings reveal that while motivation does not directly influence place attachment, it significantly affects satisfaction and revisit intention. Results provide empirical evidence that satisfying experiences foster enduring emotional bonds with environmentally sensitive destinations. The study underscores the importance of tourism management strategies that cultivate emotional connections and visitor loyalty while integrating cultural and contextual factors to ensure the long-term sustainability of high-mountain ecotourism. Full article

Developments in agriculture is reshaping the agribusiness landscape, altering farms’ bargaining power and strategic positioning within supply chains. These dynamics raise important questions about how financial strength influences farmers’ preferences for different components of business relationships with input suppliers. The primary objective of this study is to examine the relationship between a farm’s financial power and the importance it assigns to the behavioral dimension in such relationships. To address this objective, we employ a two-stage research design. In the first stage, qualitative interviews with farmers were conducted to identify the key attributes contributing to relationship value, encompassing economic, strategic, and behavioral dimensions. In the second stage, a quantitative survey was administered to 249 farmers, supplemented with financial data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). The Maximum Difference Scaling (MaxDiff) method was applied to assess the relative importance of these attributes, followed by statistical analysis linking the observed preferences to a composite indicator of financial power. The results indicate that financially stronger farms place greater emphasis on economic factors while attaching less importance to behavioral aspects. Among less financially powerful farms, two distinct patterns emerge: one characterized by opportunistic, price-oriented behavior, and another reflecting a relational orientation that values trust, communication, and long-term cooperation alongside economic conditions. These findings contribute to a better understanding of business relationships in agribusiness by explaining how financial power shapes the trade-off between economic and behavioral components. Full article

Against the backdrop of growing concerns over university students’ mental health worldwide, campus environments play a crucial role not only in shaping spatial experiences but also in influencing psychological well-being. However, the psychosocial mechanisms through which campus landscapes affect well-being remain insufficiently theorized. Drawing on survey data from 500 students across two Chinese universities, this study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) and interpretable machine learning techniques (XGBoost-SHAP) to systematically examine the interrelations among landscape perception, place attachment, perceived social acceptance, school belonging, and psychological well-being. The results reveal the following: (1) campus landscapes serve as the primary catalyst for fostering emotional identification (place attachment) and social connectedness (perceived social acceptance and school belonging), thereby indirectly influencing psychological well-being through these psychosocial pathways; (2) landscape perception emerges as the strongest predictor of well-being, followed by school belonging. Although behavioral variables such as the green space maintenance quality, visit frequency, and duration of stay contribute consistently, their predictive power remains comparatively limited; (3) significant nonlinear associations are observed between core variables and well-being. While the positive effects of landscape perception, place attachment, and school belonging exhibit diminishing returns beyond certain thresholds, high levels of perceived social acceptance continue to generate sustained improvements in well-being. This study advances environmental psychology by highlighting the central role of campus landscapes in promoting mental health and provides actionable strategies for campus planning. It advocates for the design of balanced, diverse, and socially engaging landscape environments to maximize psychological benefits. Full article

With the rise of green building and biophilic design, how sports venues enhance users’ place attachment through natural design features has become a critical interdisciplinary research topic in architecture and environmental psychology. This study adopts an integrated perspective of environmental psychology and architectural psychology to investigate the impact mechanism of natural design features (natural visibility, integration, and interactivity) on place attachment. Using a maximum likelihood-based structural equation model with a sample of 1022 users of waterside sports venues, this research pioneers the construction and validation of a parallel mediation model involving nature connectedness and biophilia. The findings reveal that (1) natural visibility, integration, and interactivity all significantly and positively influence place attachment; (2) nature connectedness mediates the relationship between natural design features and place attachment; and (3) biophilia also mediates the effect of natural design features on place attachment. This study makes a groundbreaking contribution by uncovering the dual-path “perception-emotion” mechanism through which natural design elements influence users’ psychological responses. The results provide empirical support for the refined application of nature-embedded strategies in architectural design and offer direct guidance for enhancing the social sustainability of high-density urban waterfront public spaces. Full article

While existing studies document physical and economic impacts of new-build gentrification, the temporally protracted trauma of indirect displacement in communities adjacent to redeveloped areas remains understudied. Employing constructivist grounded theory, this study asks the following question: how do residents experience place attachment erosion during prolonged policy suspension in Shanghai’s new-build gentrification? Through iterative analysis of 25 interviews, we reveal a temporal vicious cycle of waiting triggered by uneven redevelopment and policy inertia. This cycle systematically dismantles belonging through several mechanisms: (1) chronic place-identity deterioration; (2) progressive social network fragmentation; (3) the collapse of imagined futures; and (4) the ambiguous loss of place attachment—where physical presence coexists with psychological disengagement. Crucially, we redefine indirect displacement as a temporal erosion of place identity and attachment, revealing a paradoxical state of physical presence coexisting with psychological disengagement. This paper provides a new perspective for better understanding the different dimensions of indirect displacement in new-build gentrification, which will help inform equitable development efforts that are more inclusive and just. Full article

This study examines the determinants of environmentally responsible behavior among tourists in the heritage villages of Paveh County, Iran, through an integrated theoretical framework that synthesizes place-related psychological constructs with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Employing structural equation modeling on data collected from 443 tourists across three heritage villages (July–November 2024), the investigation tested comparative theoretical models with differing explanatory capacities. The baseline TPB model confirmed significant positive effects of environmental attitudes (β = 0.388), environmental norms (β = 0.398), and perceived behavioral control (β = 0.547) on behavioral intentions, which subsequently influenced environmental behavior (β = 0.561). The extended model incorporating place-related variables demonstrated enhanced explanatory power, with the R² values increasing from 48.2% to 52.7% for behavioral intentions and from 49.2% to 54.7% for actual behavior. Notably, place identity exhibited dual psychological functions: moderating the intention–behavior relationship (β = 0.155) and mediating between place attachment and environmental behavior (β = 0.163). These findings advance sustainable tourism theory by illuminating the complex pathways through which place-based psychological connections influence environmental behavior formation in heritage contexts, suggesting that more sophisticated theoretical frameworks are required for understanding and promoting sustainable practices in culturally significant destinations. Full article

This study investigates the effect of code-switching (CS) on the processing and attachment resolution of ambiguous relative clauses (RCs) like ‘Bill saw the friend of the neighbor that was talking about football’ by heritage speakers of Spanish. It checks whether code-switching imposes a prosodic break at the place of language change, and whether this prosodic break affects RC parsing, as predicted by the Implicit Prosody Hypothesis: a high attachment (HA) preference results from a prosodic break at the RC. A prosodic break at the preposition ‘of’ in the complex DP ‘the friend of the neighbor’ entails a low attachment (LA) preference. The design compares RC resolution in unilingual sentences (Spanish, with a default preference for HA in RC, and English, with the default LA) with the RC parsing in sentences with CS. The CS occurs at the places of prosodic breaks considered by the IPH. The results show sensitivity to the place of CS in RC attachment. CS prompting LA causes longer response times. The preference for HA in Spanish unilingual sentences is higher than in English ones. Heritage speakers are sensitive to the prosodic effects of CS. However, there is high variability across speakers. Full article

This study conducts a systematic qualitative review of empirical research on sense of place within housing contexts, employing the tripartite model of place identity, place attachment, and place dependence. The study employs an expanded model that captures the internal complexity of each indicator by integrating its cognitive, affective, and conative components, which represent the dimensions of human–place interaction. This model conceptualizes sense of place as a multidimensional construct, facilitating thematic synthesis and cross-study comparisons. A structured search of Scopus and Web of Science identified 10 studies that met predefined inclusion criteria. Additionally, eight studies with divergent conceptualizations of sense of place were narratively analyzed to explore the diversity of interpretations across disciplinary perspectives in housing research. The review yields three key findings: (1) The expanded tripartite model provides a framework for understanding the relationships between residents and housing. (2) Sense of place is both a criterion and a catalyst for housing sustainability. (3) The development of a sense of place is influenced by the interaction of physical, spatial, environmental, social, cultural, economic, and institutional housing factors. Sense of place provides insight into how housing becomes home, informing context-dependent strategies that enhance place-based connections and contribute to housing sustainability. Full article

The structure and interpersonal interactions of traditional residential communities have also been impacted and recreated as a result of the fast development of urban space and related communities. This study explores the interrelationship between neighborhood social cohesion and the life satisfaction of urban adult residents through the mediating effect of place attachment. A comprehensive theoretical model was constructed to analyze the action mechanism among these variables. Data were collected through an online questionnaire platform (n = 301), and structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed for analysis. The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between neighborhood social cohesion and residents’ place attachment. Place attachment appeared to play a mediating role between neighborhood social cohesion and life satisfaction, in which place dependence was also a potential effective mediator between the three dimensions of neighborhood social cohesion (neighborliness, sense of community, and neighborhood attractiveness) and life satisfaction. The results suggest that enhancing community cohesion may contribute to urban adult residents’ well-being by strengthening their functional dependence on the community. Full article

(1) Background: Analyses using participatory GIS (PGIS) data have primarily focused on reporting landscape values (e.g., subsistence, spiritual) or activities (e.g., hunting, meditation) and less frequently on identifying patterns of value and activity co-occurrence. This paper explores whether consistent combinations of landscape values and activities associated with meaningful places identified by visitors—referred to as “bundles”—emerge across protected areas. These bundles represent the cognitive-behavioral components of sense of place. (2) Methods: We used exploratory factor analysis on aggregated PGIS data collected between 2011 and 2017 to identify value-activity bundles across three protected areas administered by the Forest Service in the northwestern United States. (3) Results: We found no universal bundles of landscape values and activities across the protected areas, limiting the ability to describe consistent sense of place bundles. Instead, relationships between landscape values and activities varied across areas. Weak associations between them highlight heterogeneity in how individuals perceive and interact with meaningful places, reflecting the subjective and context-dependent nature of the sense of place. (4) Conclusions: These findings suggest that identifying visitor “types” for outreach and planning may be more nuanced than anticipated. To provide diverse opportunities for visitors to protected areas, planners and decision-makers may need to move beyond standard audience segmentation practices and consider the context-dependent nature of sense of place. Full article

This paper builds on place theory and the psycho-social approach to the study of perceived residential environmental quality to examine the relationship between environmental perceptions and residential action in the neighborhood. An exploratory study on (N = 185) Italian respondents assessed the role of perceived residential environmental quality (i.e., perceived quality of green areas and perceived maintenance levels within the neighborhood), awareness of neighborhood environmental problems, neighborhood descriptive norms, and place attachment (attachment to the neighborhood) as predictors of self-reported individual residential engagement (engagement in improving the environmental quality of the neighborhood). Likert-type measures of the corresponding constructs were included in a structured questionnaire and used to carry out an online survey. Findings showed problem awareness and descriptive norms to directly predict residential engagement. Problem awareness mediated the relationship between perceived maintenance levels and residential engagement. Place attachment was directly predicted by perceived residential quality (quality of green areas), but did not show an independent predictive power vis-à-vis residential engagement. Results suggest new possible research avenues for modelling the individual commitment to improve the environmental quality of one’s own residential architectural and green environment. Full article

This study examines how memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) influence tourists’ intention to recommend coastal tourism destinations. Using a quantitative approach of PLS-SEM analysis and a disjoint two-stage approach, this study examines MTE as a higher-order construct (HOC) with its seven dimensions and the moderating role of coastal destination competitiveness (CDC) in structural relationships. Data were collected through purposive sampling from 339 tourists who had visited Likupang, one of the priority tourism destinations in Indonesia. The results show that MTE plays a crucial role in increasing perceived economic value (PEV) and place attachment (PLA), and it is directly related to the intention to recommend the destination (ITRD). In addition to the prominent mediation role of PEV, these findings reveal that the CDC can strengthen or weaken the influence of these factors on tourists’ intention to provide recommendations. Specifically, the CDC can strengthen PLA influence towards intention to recommend, whereas, in contrast, it weakens the PEV in driving these intentions. The findings of this study expand the horizon of managing coastal tourism with an understanding of tourist behavior, particularly through a focus on improving MTE from the dynamics of its seven dimensions in encouraging promotion through tourist recommendations while optimizing the natural competitiveness elements of Likupang. Full article

This study explores key factors influencing Aging-in-Place Attachment (AiPA) among older adults in Macau’s high-density community spaces, emphasizing interactions between the built environment, behavior, and psychology. A multidimensional framework evaluates environmental, behavioral, human-factor, and psychological contributions. A mixed-methods, multisource approach was employed. This study measured spatial characteristics of nine public spaces, conducted systematic behavioral observations, and collected questionnaire data on place attachment and aging intentions. Eye-tracking and galvanic skin response (GSR) captured visual attention and emotional arousal. Hierarchical regression analysis tested the explanatory power of each variable group, supplemented by semi-structured interviews for qualitative depth. The results showed that the physical environment had a limited direct impact but served as a critical foundation. Behavioral variables increased explanatory power (~15%), emphasizing community engagement. Human-factor data added ~4%, indicating that sensory and habitual interactions strengthen bonds. Psychological factors contributed most (~59%), confirming AiPA as a multidimensional construct shaped primarily by emotional and social connections, supported by physical and behavioral contexts. In Macau’s dense urban context, older adults’ desire to age in place is mainly driven by emotional connection and social participation, with spatial design serving as an enabler. Effective age-friendly strategies must extend beyond infrastructure upgrades to cultivate belonging and interaction. This study advances environmental gerontology and architecture theory by explaining the mechanisms of attachment in later life. Future work should explore how physical spaces foster psychological well-being and examine emerging factors such as digital and intergenerational engagement. Full article