Forms and sources of place attachment: evidence from two protected areas

Sense of place is a widely researched concept that has been used to describe and analyze people–place relationships. However, there is no consensus regarding the forms of place attachment, the relative importance of the sources for such attachments, or the spatial extent of place formation. The purpose of the paper is to contribute case examples of sense of place for significant natural areas, thereby adding to the body of evidence that explicates the diverse sources and forms of place attachment. Using content analysis of qualitative stakeholder interviews, we identify these dimensions of place attachment for two nationally significant Australian natural areas. Our data support a tripartite structure for sense of place comprising affective, functional and cognitive forms of attachment. We also examine the extent to which these place attachments are localized on the study sites and/or spatially generalized across sites possessing the same sources of place formation. Our case studies provide evidence for both localized and generalized senses of place. Localized place attachments had affective and functional components, respectively founded on social and biophysical sources. Generalized senses of place comprised functional and cognitive components, with appreciation of historical values of these places key to the formation of the latter. Our results indicate the spatial diversity of place attachments for protected areas and their social, cultural and biophysical sources.