Turning place into space - place motivations and place spaces in Tasmania

Strong attachments to places are important in understanding the politics of environmental planning, but, as in Tasmania, Australia, are not usually incorporated in planning criteria and standards. We determine whether groups of individuals have similar spatial patterns of attachment at a State scale in Tasmania, and whether attachments to these ‘place spaces’ are differently motivated, and socially or environmentally determined. We used respondents’ lists of places to repeatedly classify the groups of people attached to different place spaces. The associations between stated motivations and the distinctive features identified by place spaces, and between socioeconomic and demographic variables and both motivations and place space groups, were determined for the 293 respondents with complete data using Chi square and ANOVA. Eight of the nine groups of people had spatially well-defined place spaces. Four place spaces were similar to the territories of Aboriginal nations. Two place space groups focused on places with cultural heritage. All others had a strong nature focus. Family activities and childhood memories most influenced the choices of those born in Tasmania, while immigrants focused on heritage. Single features of the landscape, such as kunanyi (Mt Wellington), motivated attachment in many different ways and in many place space groups. Demographic and socioeconomic variables did not strongly differentiate between people in place space groups. Patterns of attachment to place spaces and the diversity of reasons for attachment to them can be determined using our novel methods, potentially facilitating incorporation of place attachment into the planning process.