What role does place differentiation play in contemporary urban redevelopment processes, and how is it constructed, practiced, and governed? Under heightened forms of interurban competition fueled by processes of globalization, there is a desire by place-makers to construct and market a unique sense of place. While there is consensus that place promotion plays a role in reconstructing landscapes, how place differentiation operates – and can be operationalized – in processes of urban redevelopment is under-theorized in the literature. In this thesis, I produce a typology of four strategies of differentiation – negation, coherence, residue, multiplicity – which reside within capital transformations and which require activation by a set of social actors. I situate these ideas via an examination of the redevelopment of the Gooderham and Worts distillery, renamed the Distillery District, which opened to the public in 2003. Under the direction of the private sector, the site was transformed from a space of alcohol production to a space of cultural consumption. The developers used a two pronged approach for the site’s redevelopment: historic preservation and arts-led regeneration. Using a mixed method approach including textual analysis, in-depth interviews, visual analysis, and site observation, I examine the strategies used to market the Distillery as a distinct place, and the effects of this marketing strategy on the valuation of art, history, and space. Two central arguments direct the thesis: first, in an attempt to construct place differentiation, what emerges is a sense of sameness which limits the potential of the district and produces a disconnect between the space and its users; second, it is only by understanding how differentiation operates in discourse and practice that alternative formations of place-making can emerge and socio-spatial disconnectedness can be rethought.

Adaptation has increasingly come to be recognised as an urgent and necessary response to climate change. The ability of a system to carryout adaptation is dependent on its adaptive capacity. To date, the majority of research relating to adaptation has focused on the objective and material determinants of a system's capacity to adapt to severe and extreme weather impacts. Whereas the role that subjective factors, such as people's perceptions, beliefs and values play in that same process, has received comparatively less attention. Despite being a global phenomenon, climate change is being experienced and responded to in local places. More than just physical locations, places are often imbued with meaning by the people associated with them. This thesis argues that these meanings have implications for the ways in which people adapt, or fail to adapt, to climate change impacts. It uses the concept 'sense of place', as a means of capturing this place meaning and as a lens for exploring adaptive behaviours in three low-income urban communities in the Dominican Republic. In particular it examines the specific roles of residents' place attachment, dependence and identity in motivating and constraining adaptive behaviours. Based on qualitative research with ethnographic underpinnings, the thesis shows that the urban poor sense of place is shaped by interconnected relationships between residents and; their homes, the physical and social aspects of their communities and a range of non-community actors. These relationships are shaped by physical and social interactions with and within places, but also through the discursive construction of the locations and the inhabitants of them in public opinion. Residents continuously seek out ways to enhance their sense of place, at times as an improvement in the built environment as a means of preventing or ameliorating environmental threats and events. However, often it is enhancement, in an aesthetic sense, which is envisaged as being of equal and sometimes greater importance. Although aesthetic improvements sometimes have the resultant impact of enabling adaptation, this tends to be incidental, rather than purposeful. Despite the importance placed by the urban poor on their sense of place, these subjective determinants and adaptation in the urban environment, remain unrecognised as well as absent from local institutional and policy radars. Overall the research suggests the need for a more comprehensive approach to understanding adaptive capacities. It requires an approach which continues to measure the objective determinants but which also recognises the role of people's relationships to places in converting or failing to convert objective capacity into climate change action and in dictating the type activities that are valued and prioritised by urban poor residents themselves.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction / Lotta C. Larson / The transition to college offers students the chance to explore, experiment with, and eventually begin to solidify their identities (Boyd, Hunt, Kandell, & Lucas, 2003), but for students from agricultural backgrounds, leaving home to head to a more urban area for college constitutes a threat to identity (Breakwell, 1986; Cicognani, Menezes, & Nata, 2011; Proshanksy, 1978). Although education research concerning rural students is plentiful (e.g., Antos, 1999; Donehower, Hogg, & Schell, 2012; Durham & Smith, 2006; Lester, 2012), research specific to agrarian students is sparse (e.g., Dees, 2006). The purpose of this qualitative instrumental case study was to explore and describe the experiences of students from agricultural backgrounds as they transitioned to college and how the transition impacted self-perceived identity. In particular, this study inquired into the difficulties and successes faced by study participants, as well as strategies used for coping with the transition from their agrarian homes to their more urban university setting. Four male and four female participants attended a university situated in the Midwest and majored in agricultural education. These university participants were invited to complete two qualitative interviews, submit photographs they felt represented their home and school lives, invite the researcher to observe any facet of their university experience, and submit the most meaningful assignment completed in college. Additionally, three male and two female high school students anticipating the transition to college were interviewed about their perceptions of the upcoming transition. Analysis of research data revealed that participant identities were impacted by the transition to college, their agrarian backgrounds, and their university experiences. Twenty-three distinct codes emerged from the data and were further categorized into six patterns: merging worlds, differences and tensions, “it’s in my blood,” continuing educational legacy/impact, finding self-identity, and can I go home? This study’s results highlighted, first and foremost, the need for universities to keep statistics on rural student enrollment. Additionally, this study emphasized the need for teachers, advisors, and counselors to be mindful of students’ backgrounds and future plans. Finally, this study demonstrated the importance of exposure to more urban areas and educational opportunities for easing the transition to college in students from agricultural backgrounds.

abstract: For the last 10 years, the American Southwest has been experiencing the most persistent drought conditions on record. Based on future climactic predictions, there is a dire need to reduce water usage within Phoenix. An environmentally responsible behavior such as low water use landscaping (xeriscaping), has been shown to reduce household water consumption by 40%-70%. While much is known regarding the relationship between socio-demographics and xeriscaping choices, the influence of other variables remains to be explored. Using data from the 2017 Phoenix Area Social Survey, this study investigates the influence of two additional variables - ecological worldview and place identity on xeriscaping choice. Data was analyzed using two models - Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Linear Probability Model (LPM). Ecological worldview and place identity, along with income, ethnicity, and gender, were all found to be positively related to xeriscape preference. Additionally, when compared to the LPM, the traditional OLS was found to still be the most robust and appropriate model when measuring landscape preference. Finally, results suggested that programs to foster identity with the local desert mountain parks may help to increase xeriscaping in the Valley and thus lower residential water use. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Community Resources and Development 2018

Preventing the environmental impacts of economic growth is an important goal in today’s marketplace. This concern for a sustainable future incentivises marketing based around sustainability. The food and beverage industry had its fair share of criticism as its production uses more natural resources than most industries. One industry that has been ahead of other food processors in adopting environmental practices is the wine industry. The close relationship between wine and places is undisputable and so strong that people frequently visit places of wine production in the form of wine tourism contributing significantly to regional economies. For wine to be associated with sustainability, regional stakeholders would be required to represent similar values. The branding of places is far more intricate than branding of products and needs the support of those stakeholders involved. Such support is often discussed as a shared place identity. Only limited previous research has addressed whether the communication of sustainability enhances business performance. No research to date has empirically tested whether a shared stakeholder identity influences the relationship between sustainability branding and business success. To close this gap, a sequential mixed methods procedure was specified using quantitative questionnaires with 420 subjects and 20 qualitative interviews. A model with consequences of sustainability branding and a shared place identity was established using extant research. Mostly existing scales were adapted to fit this research context and tested with a structural modelling approach among Australian and German wineries. It was found that practicing and communicating sustainability significantly influences performance on an individual winery and regional destination level. Furthermore, a shared place identity has been established as a critical success factor in the relationship between sustainability branding and place performance. Both theoretical and practical implications can be drawn from this research. The results have provided empirical evidence on the direct relationship between sustainability and performance, in addition to the moderating role of a shared place identity. These findings extend the tourism literature which states that businesses practicing sustainably, enhance their own performance as well as the overall regional performance. It also extends stakeholder theory by establishing that a shared place identity strengthens this relationship even further, highlighting the need for regional management to initiate a shared sense of identification. Practically, regional managers who are eager to enhance economic performance should be actively involved in developing relationships between the individual wineries and the regional management in order to foster a shared place identity. Furthermore, it is of major importance to establish positive attitudes toward sustainability among winery owners. This can be done by building the confidence of winery owners by offering infrastructures for learning and support about sustainability.

Focusing on the town of Malmberget in northern Sweden, this study addresses the relationship between place, identity formation and social transformation among mining communities. Due to an expanding mining area, the town is being gradually demolished and remaining inhabitants will eventually have to be relocated. Concurrently, urban expansion plans are underway in the neighboring town of Gällivare. The aim of the study is to examine whether and how collective forms of identity are constructed in relation to Malmberget as place. What are the main values underlying such collective identity and are they being taken into considerations in the expansion plans? The study also examines if and how any attempts to preservation have been made in response to the demolition and redevelopment. The study is primarily based on interviews with inhabitants of Malmberget. It also draws on qualitative content analysis of documents on the expansions plans. As the study focuses on notions of place and collective identity, in its theoretical framework Lefebvre’s spatial triad is combined with a phenomenological approach of place and Jenkins’ conceptualisation of collective identity.   The findings suggest that there exists a collective ‘Malmberget identity’ consisting of certain values connected to place relations and community history. Some aspects of these values have implicitly been taken into considerations in the expansion plans in Gällivare, but far from all of them. The study also shows how interviewees have enacted preservation strategies as a way to cope with the urban transformation and to protect their shared collective identity.

abstract: This dissertation addresses empirical, applied, and theoretical issues in the place literature through an ethnographic study of the volunteer stewards in the nonprofit McDowell Sonoran Conservancy (Scottsdale, Arizona). The first phase of study explores Conservancy stewards’ phenomenological place meanings through participant observation, a photovoice protocol (N=18), and life-history interviews (N=53). Findings indicate that being a steward fosters deep, identity-based place meanings within the conservation land (the McDowell Sonoran Preserve) and City of Scottsdale. The second phase of study measures stewards’ psychometric place attachments to the Preserve and broader community using the Place Attachment Inventory (PAI) survey. New stewards’ (N=29) PAI scores—collected before attending orientation and one year after—demonstrate a rise in Preserve place attachment and place identity in the first year of service. Established stewards’ (N=275) PAI data suggests no correlation between place attachment and volunteer intensity. These findings are complemented by phase I results and suggest that stewards experience a rise in place identity after earning the identity of an environmental steward, regardless of engagement. The third phase of study experimentally combines the data from established stewards who participated in phase I and II (N=48) to test the hypothesis that those with identity-based place meanings would possess higher place identity scores. Data analysis found no significant differences in place identity scores between those with and without a Predicted High Place Identity. The outcomes of this experiment suggest construct validity issues with the widely used place attachment and place identity constructs. While it is established that volunteers arrive at an organization with a strong sense of place, this study demonstrates empirically how place attachments increase and place meanings deepen further after joining a volunteer organization. Communities and organizations can learn from the Conservancy’s practices that help stewards easily establish and perform a place-based steward identity. Finally, the experimental mixed methods findings suggest a sense of place research program that measures attachment to a place’s meanings rather than attachment to a place. This shift will allow place meaning and place attachment to be studied concurrently, advancing the sense of place construct and broader place theory. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2020

This degree project is focusing upon the use and relevancy of the phenomenon of ‘a sense of place’ within Swedish municipal spatial and strategic planning practice. The aim is to investigate if, when and how Swedish municipalities are working with the phenomenon of ’a sense of place’, which includes investigating possible motives and problems towards working with this. Furthermore the aim is also to investigate different theoretical, as well as empirical, understandings of the concept as ‘a sense of place’ is a highly ambiguous concept.Various theoretical understandings and definitions of the concept are acknowledged within the study, however a broader definition is primary used within the empirical investigation, whereas ‘a sense of place’ should be understood as: the particular qualities and atmosphere that makes a place unique, this is embedded within peoples understanding about place, which is affected by the physical environment, human activities and social relations.The empirical investigation is primary based upon qualitative interviews with public officials in seven Swedish municipalities. The study concludes in that ‘a sense of place’ as defined within the study, is highly relevant and present in Swedish municipal planning practice. Furthermore the study concludes in that there are possibilities to gain both economic and social benefits from incorporating a‘a sense of place’ perspective to planning, arguing for a relationship between social sustainability and ‘a sense of place’. / Denna studie undersöker fenomenet ‘a sense of place’ relevans samt aktualitet inom svensk kommunal planeringsverksamhet. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om, när och hur svenska kommuner arbetar med fenomenet ’a sense of place’ med fokus på planeringsprocessen. Vidare är syftet med studien även att verka teoretiskt samt empiriskt begreppsutredande kring ’a sense of place’ samt angränsande begrepp, då det är högst mångtydiga koncept.Studien diskuterar och reflekterar över flertalet tolkningar och definitioner av begreppet ’a sense of place’. För att konkretisera och underlätta den empiriska undersökningen appliceras en bredare definition av begreppet som: ’a sense of place´ är de specifika egenskaperna och atmosfären som gör en plats unik, vilket är inneboende i människors upplevelse av plats, vilket i sin tur påverkas av platsens fysiska karaktär, mänsklig aktivitet samt sociala relationer.Studiens empiriska undersökning är främst baserad på en kvalitativ intervjustudie med tjänstemän från sju svenska kommuner. Det empiriska materiaet kompletteras även av kommunala handlingar samt tre kvalitativa intervjuer med kommunstyrelseordföranden. Studiens slutsatser är att ’a sense of place’ som definierat inom studien, är ett högst relevant och aktuellt ämne inom den svenska kommunala planeringsverksamheten. Vidare är studiens slutsatser att arbete med ’a sense of place’ inom kommunal planeringsverksamhet har potential att påverka flera aspekter av samhällets hållbara utveckling; som ekonomisk tillväxt, samt ett mer socialt hållbart samhälle, där studien argumenterar för ett samband mellan ’a sense of place’ och social hållbarhet.

Plats är ett centralt och omtvistat begrepp inom geografin. Det är inte bara en fråga om fysisk lokalitet, utan platser förknippas med olika meningar och känslor och fungerar även som del av mänsklig identitet. Genomgripande samhällsförändringar som globalisering och teknologisk utveckling har påverkat platser drastiskt, särskilt i landsbygdsområden där industri varit centralt, och har resulterat i socioekonomiska och demografiska utmaningar. I Karlstads kommun kan utvecklingen tydligt ses i tätorten Vålberg, där historiska skeenden lett till problematiska bilder av orten. Denna undersökning ämnar ge inblick i Vålbergs platsidentitet och relaterade utmaningar, samt hur människor, plats och identitet samverkar. Frågor drivande i arbetet var följande: • Vad kan diskursen om Vålberg avslöja om dess platsidentitet? • Vilken är relationen mellan människorna, platsen och identitet? • Hur kan Vålbergs särskilda utmaningar relateras till aspekter i dess platsidentitet? Via en pragmatisk ansats användes en kombination av ett flertal metoder såsom etnografiska betraktelser, diskursanalys och granskning av sekundära statistiska data för att skapa en mångsidig beskrivning av Vålbergs platsidentitet i form av ett narrativ kompletterat med fotografier. Teman som uppstod i materialet var bland annat ortens utmaningar med socioekonomiska förutsättningar, rasistiskt motiverat våld och negativa stämplar vid sidan av positiva känslor av hemhörighet och gemenskap; en föränderlig och omtvistad bild av vad Vålberg är; ett bekymrat förhållande till Karlstads kommun och en känsla av att vara bortglömd samt betydelsen av samhällets industriella begynnande i en postindustriell omvärld. Slutsatser av studien är att samhällets beroende av den nu mer avvecklade centrala och strukturerande tillverkningsindustrin bidragit till en negativ social utveckling och en resulterande problematisk platsidentitet. Platsidentitet ter sig som en betydande faktor i Vålbergs utveckling och en av ortens stora utmaningar är att förändra den. Samspelet mellan människorna och platsen förefaller dock vara en komplex process som svårligen låter sig påverkas av gängse utvecklingsstrategier.

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