Official planning documents and strategies often look at cities from above neglecting people’s experiences and practices. Meanwhile cities as meaningful places are constructed though citizens’ practices, memories and ties with their surroundings. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to discover people’s bonds with their urban allotment gardens – dachas – in the Russian city of Kaliningrad and to explore the significance of these bonds for city development. The phenomenon of the dacha has a long history in Russia. Similar to urban allotment gardens in other countries, dachas are an essential part of the city landscape in many post-socialist countries but differ by their large scale. Recent decades have brought diversity into the urban dacha areas of Russia and express a shift away from their primary function of recreational horticulture towards a greater variety in usage, including housing. Due to multiple legal frameworks these areas have become special enclaves with haphazard development, inadequate levels of infrastructure and low quality of self-build houses. Urban dachas can be examined as an example of both post-socialist suburbanization and informal settlement. In this thesis the concept of place attachment, derived from the works of human geographers and environmental psychologists, is used as both the theoretical and methodological lens to look at people-place relations in urban dacha areas. The empirical evidence for this study was gathered through interviews and observations in Kaliningrad where urban dachas comprise 11% of the city’s territory. To capture the different aspects of place attachment in these areas the data was categorised according to common themes.The findings of this study show the complexity of the bonds between people and their urban allotment gardens. Despite all the hardships, these places provide their residents an opportunity for independence and self-realization. The respondents demonstrated an energy and aspiration to achieve increased well-being for themselves and their families, however the lack of resources and institutions hinders the development of place attachment in urban dacha areas. The identified features of people’s bonds with their dachas should not only be preconditions for urban planning but also an integral part of the planning and development process. This study also tests the application of the concept of place attachment for urban studies.

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Inner-city neighborhoods are being recognized for their potential to contribute visually, economically, and culturally to the urban core. Efforts to revitalize these neighborhoods will need to address the economic, cultural, and social structure of the neighborhood. Resident groups, in particular long-time and newer residents, will likely be affected by the cultural changes that inevitably accompany revitalization. This project explores the processes of community life and place attachment, and their role in fostering healthy communities. Residents, depending on their length of time in the neighborhood, will be at different stages of these processes. Design and planning may support community life and place attachment by understanding this continuum and providing for the processes that engender them. This project began with a review of literature on the subject of inner-city neighborhoods, gentrification, community life, and place attachment. From this literature design and planning criteria were extracted. These criteria were then applied to the Belmont-Fallon neighborhood in Roanoke, Virginia, and were evaluated based on the conditions of the neighborhood and levels of attachment of long-time and newer residents. Design implications were developed that may support the process of place attachment within this community. These implications were then illustrated and tested through design. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Minimal research has examined the interrelationship between motivation, place attachment, and the need to belong in a residential camping environment. The purpose of this study was to better understand the role of place attachment and the need to belong in facilitating 4-H Camp Graham campers and counselors interest in returning to residential 4-H summer camp year after year. All participants included in this study were at least 18 years of age, graduated from high school, former 4-H members, and attended 4-H camp for at least two consecutive years. Three camping clusters participated in focus group interviews for a total of 21 participants. A fourth camping cluster and participants unable to attend their designated focus group, were invited complete an online survey. Overall, campers and counselors were primarily motivated to return to camp each year due to the relationships, memories, and sense of belonging formed at camp. While nature and location played a role in the camp experience by providing a secluded environment free from outside influence, these attachments were secondary. Attachment to camp grew over time and participants valued the camp experience highly and tended to choose camp friendships and the camp experience over other opportunities. Longevity at camp influenced the strength of attachment. This research suggests that intentionality in these areas of staff training and program planning are critical to camper and counselor connection to camp. Additionally, this research provides tangible evidence that points to the value of sharing the residential camping experience with potential funders and parents. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

By listening to peoples' constructed stories of special places, the average person begins to understand why and how attachments to places form. This study concerns the attachments residents of Isle au Haut, Maine possess on the remote island, which borders part of Acadia National Park. The purpose of this study is to uncover social components of both place attachment and place identity among island residents as well as explain the process by which those residents form attachments. Twelve interviews were conducted both on Isle au Haut as well as nearby Mount Desert Island. Qualitative data were collected from a purposive sample of island residents and National Park Service employees who are responsible for managing the park on the island. In-depth interviews were the sole means of data collection and provided detailed stories of life on the island and attachments that have formed. This study uses grounded theory techniques in data analysis to ultimately form a theory grounded in the collected data. The findings from this study indicate that social interaction is key to residents forming an attachment to Isle au Haut. Further, three major social constructs emerged from the data analysis. Those constructs are sense of community, shared purpose, and shared history, all of which were found to contribute to place identity and place attachment among the residents. The results also suggest place identity as more salient than place dependence in residents' narratives concerning their attachment to the island. / Master of Science

År 2004 blev det känt att delar av Kiruna skulle komma att flyttas för att möjliggöra gruvbrytning i gruvan Kirunavaara. Sedan dess har den byggda miljön i orten påverkats på flera sätt, och därmed även de med anknytning till Kiruna. Denna kandidatuppsats undersöker inställningen till förändringarna i den byggda miljön hos unga vuxna som vuxit upp i Kiruna, men som senare flyttat till Uppsala för studier, samt hur deras syn på att återvända till Kiruna eventuellt kan ha påverkats av stadsflytten. Metoden som använts för att besvara studiens syfte bestod av sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med före detta Kirunabor som flyttat till Uppsala för studier, och bor kvar i Uppsala idag. Resultatet visade att förändringarna i den byggda miljön inte i huvudsak styr hur respondenterna planerar sin eventuella återflytt till Kiruna. Det sompåverkar respondenternas inställning negativt var snarare otillgänglighet till samhällstjänster och oro över framtiden. Å andra sidan visar respondenterna att Kirunas närhet till naturen och familjeliv lockar till att återvända.

Abstract: This thesis has looked at urban renewal initiatives and what potential consequences these could have on the way an area is experienced and the way people are connected to the area. To accomplish this the concept of authenticity has been used, combined with the concept of place attachment, to create a framework that would allow for a discussion concerning the impact of urban renewal initiatives on a renewed area. The areas of Gottsunda in Uppsala and Sofielund in Malmö were chosen as the focus of the study as they both are experiencing urban renewal initiatives currently and will be in the future as well. To analyze the areas the methods chosen were document analysis of documents relating to each area in combination with interviews with actors working with the initiatives in each area. Using the methods the results showed how Uppsala municipality in Gottsunda broadly favored different physical interventions meant to improve the area whilst in Sofielund the opposite was the case as social interventions were favored by BID Sofielund to improve the area. Overall, the findings showed how a change in both areas’ authenticity was likely to take place following the often-drastic interventions to the physical and social landscapes of each area. The discussion concerning the changing authenticity of the areas also came to include a broader look at what potential factors might have an impact on whether an area’s authenticity might change over how much time changes are implemented or the scale of the changes. Broadly the findings, whilst not definitively stating how an areas authenticity might change, managed to identify many relevant and interesting trends relating to the consequences of urban renewal initiatives, something that should be well worth keeping in mind when planning future changes into the urban space.

The Finnafjörður harbour project rests on the idea that shipping routes in the Arctic will become navigable in the following decades. Located on the northeast corner of Iceland, the place is considered a suitable location for a trans-shipment harbour in the future to service Arctic marine traffic. The project would have considerable societal, natural, and economic consequences on the local community, which counts little more than 500 residents. The aim of this thesis is to explore residents’ attitudes towards the Finnafjörður harbour project in relation to sense of place and place based memories by asking how different views and attitudes of Langanesbyggð’s residents towards the Finnafjörður harbour project relate to changes in their sense of place, and how memories of a place form part of resident’s attitudes towards the project. The thesis employs a qualitative research strategy where semi-structured in-depth interviews are conducted with eleven residents of Langanesbyggð. The findings demonstrate different attitudes towards the project, which relate to changes in both the social and the physical environment. Furthermore, the role of memory is significant in shaping residents’ attitudes towards the project. The thesis addresses the voices of local communities, which have been largely neglected in Arctic studies to this day.

Cities are co-constructed places shaped by interlocking systems of oppression. The cultural practices, socioeconomic systems, and bodily experiences born out of oppressive systems impact not only how cities are designed, but how people interact with the space. This dissertation examines how embodied experiences (habits, narratives, behaviors) of neighborhood change in Buffalo, New York affect residents’ sense of belonging. Drawing from scholarship on embodiment and place attachment this study examines how the urban form and personal identities inform a person’s sense of belonging. Participants (n=6) were asked to participate in five phases: 1) a life history interview; 2) a semi-structured interview; 3) the collection of audio-visual materials, and 4) a walking tour. Findings suggest embodied experiences of neighborhood change inform participants sense of belonging. Race and gender resulted in differing interactions with people and place. This study adds to existing literature on belonging by offering an understanding into how white residents experience neighborhood change, which is rarely attended to in the literature. This study has the potential to inform future interdisciplinary research as well as municipal efforts to engage residents in community development and urban policy design. / 2028-05-31T00:00:00Z

The rising prevalence of loneliness and depression, particularly among young adults, has prompted research into the social and environmental factors that influence mental well-being. This thesis examines the relationships between loneliness, symptoms of depression, and dimensions of place attachment—specifically, place identity, place dependence, social bonding, and nature bonding—among UCF students, with subgroup analyses by gender and ethnicity. Additionally, it seeks to incorporate Native American perspectives to explore culturally specific connections to place and community. Due to recruitment challenges, the final sample primarily consists of 201 University of Central Florida students with limited Native American representation. Quantitative analysis revealed strong positive correlations between loneliness and symptoms of depression, with social bonding emerging as a significant protective factor against loneliness across the sample. Place dependence was associated with stronger social bonds, suggesting that attachment to a specific place fosters supportive social connections. Gender- and ethnicity-based analyses highlighted variations in place attachment dimensions, with females and certain ethnic groups (e.g., Asian and Hispanic participants) showing distinctive relationships between place, nature bonding, and mental health outcomes. Although limited by the small sample size of Native American participants, preliminary insights suggest that place and nature bonding may hold unique significance within Indigenous communities. These findings underscore the potential of place-based and community-centered interventions to enhance mental health, offering practical applications for mental health professionals, urban planners, and policymakers. By fostering social bonds and connections to meaningful places, such interventions may reduce loneliness and symptoms of depression. The study’s limitations, including sample diversity and cross-sectional design, point to areas for future research, particularly involving longitudinal studies and more inclusive recruitment from underrepresented populations. This thesis contributes to a growing understanding of how places, communities, and nature support mental well-being, advocating for holistic, culturally sensitive approaches to mental health care that integrate social and environmental dimensions.