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It is well established that ecosystems bring meaning and well-being to individuals, often articulated through attachment to place. Degradation and threats to places and ecosystems have been shown to lead to loss of well-being. Here, we suggest that the interactions between ecosystem loss and declining well-being may involve both emotional responses associated with grief, and with observable impacts on mental health. We test these ideas on so-called ecological grief by examining individual emotional response to well-documented and publicized ecological degradation: coral bleaching and mortality in the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem. The study focuses both on one off events of coral loss and the prospect of continuing decline on the self-reported well-being of residents living within the ecosystem, visitors, and those whose livelihood is dependent on the marine resource: data from face-to-face surveys of 1870 local residents, 1804 tourists, and telephone surveys of 91 fishers and 94 tourism operators. We hypothesise that the extent to which individuals experience ecological grief is dependent on the meanings or intrinsic values (such as aesthetic, scientific, or biodiversity-based values), and is moderated by their place attachment, place identity, lifestyle dependence, place-based pride, and derived well-being. Results show that around half of residents, tourists and tourist operators surveyed, and almost one quarter of fishers, report significant Reef Grief. Reef Grief is closely and positively associated with place meanings within resident and tourist populations. By contrast respondents who rated high aesthetic value of the coral ecosystem report lower levels of Reef Grief. These findings have significant implications for how individuals and populations experience ecosystem decline and loss within places that are meaningful to them. Given inevitable cumulative future impacts on ecosystems from committed climate change impacts, understanding and managing ecological grief will become increasingly important. This study seeks to lay conceptual and theoretical foundations to identify how ecological grief is manifest and related to meaningful places and the social distribution of such grief across society.

Sense of place is increasingly advocated to support the management of social-ecological systems. Given the concept’s complexity, we suggest that an indicator for sense of place is needed to facilitate its application in practical planning. We propose such an indicator called “meaningful places,” defined as geographic locations to which (i) immediately perceived as well as socially constructed meanings are ascribed and (ii) evaluative attachments are tied. We applied the indicator in two independent case studies, Lübeck and Lahn, both of which aimed to integrate sense of place in an actual planning process. The case studies differed in the spatial scale of the meaningful places, the indicator’s operationalization, and the specific assessment methods. In the Lübeck case, semi-structured interviews and a simple mapping method were used to analyze participants’ “home-regions.” The results revealed diverse but overlapping locations characterized as aesthetic, different from others, close to nature, and quiet (place meanings). In the Lahn case, a public participation GIS (public participation geographic information system [PPGIS]) survey was conducted and yielded insights into the spatial distribution of meaningful places. The results reflect a wide range of place meanings linked to, for example, activities, aesthetic qualities, or well-being. Furthermore, participants expressed different intensities of place attachments. Although the indicator is still in an exploratory stage, it allows for reflection on potential benefits for planning practitioners. The resulting data can be combined with spatial information usually used in planning processes, e.g., about the state of the underlying physical environment and/or foreseeable drivers of change. This offers new opportunities for managers regarding the determination of priorities to conserve meaningful places, the anticipation of conflicts, and the utilization of the communicative power of meaningful places. We argue that the benefits for planning justify a new direction of research devoted to the development and further advancement of the indicator.

It has long been recognised that the tangible and intangible characteristics that make a location distinctive and memorable contribute significantly to destination image. How this destination feel is communicated has largely been the domain of place branding and destination marketing, which have the potential to miss stakeholder voices. Recently though, practitioners are starting to carefully consider ‘sense of place’, that is an emotional attachment to place, which is defined more carefully in the literature review of this article, and which corresponds with long-running academic discussions. This paper attempts to identify some of these and bridge the gap between academic theory on sense of place and practice. In the UK, many rural areas are now seeking to operationalise sense of place through toolkit documents that might inform landscape interpretation and destination branding. A scenario echoed internationally, where local distinctiveness features in both rural and urban planning. However, sense of place in a tourism context, and more specifically the development of these toolkits, has received limited academic attention. Hence, this paper presents the case of Morecambe Bay and the development of a dedicated sense of place toolkit. The subsequent case emerges from a collaboration between academics and practitioners and draws on participant observation, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Specifically, the paper outlines a series of workshop activities developed with destination stakeholders and identifies how these inform subsequent toolkit design. It offers a critical analysis of the benefits and potential pitfalls of employing this approach. This case is of value to academics and destination stakeholders interested in identifying and communicating the uniqueness and emotional tone of the destination. Key lessons and recommendations are identified for those engaging in similar toolkit development initiatives.

Reciprocal relations underscore the mutual caretaking obligations held between nature and society, as intertwining entities that are co-constituted with one another. In this paper, we draw from scholarship on human-nature relations, which emphasizes the intrinsic value and agency of non-human beings and the landscape. Building on this literature, we investigate the practice of reciprocal relations for exemplar communities in Hawaiʻi, British Columbia (Canada), the Appalachian mountain region (U.S.), and Madagascar that are all actively cultivating stewardship of natural resources in the face of economic, political, and ecological pressures. Our cases illustrate the diverse ways individuals and communities enact reciprocal relations and examine how these acts may increase community access to land and water. We show how communities mobilize reciprocal relations through both formal governance actions (e.g. management planning and legislation) and informal avenues (e.g. daily human-environment interactions). Our findings expand upon Ribot and Peluso’s theory of access by considering the multi-directional flows of benefits and responsibilities between people and places exemplified by reciprocal relations. By reframing environmental governance around mutual responsibilities, we hope to increase recognition of existing reciprocal place-based relationships, and facilitate greater community access to land, water, and resources.

Purpose Compared to younger and older generation migrants, middle-aged migrants in the diaspora seem to be more conflicted regarding their belonging. This paper aims to explore how middle-aged migrants in the diaspora define themselves in space and time. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on ethnographic fieldwork done among Malawian migrants (herein referred to as Lydiatians) settled at Lydiate informal settlement in peri-urban Zimbabwe. Findings The paper reveals that, while younger migrants have a “radical transnational stance”, and older migrants regard their place of settlement as their final home, middle-aged migrants prefer to maintain a “strategic dual sense of place” regarding their place of settlement in the diaspora. These middle-aged migrants can be entrepreneurs considering their current settlement as a strategic place for petty commodity trading or those who find informal settlements to provide needed opportunities for cheap housing as the migrants pursue work in the nearby towns. Practical implications The paper offers a deeper understanding of how middle-aged migrants navigate their sense of place and contribute to host nations by functioning as key resources, dynamizing local economies through entrepreneurial activities and labour provision for various industries. The implications of this research should encourage states to positively interact with migrants, leveraging their potential for societal and economic development. Originality/value The finding that migrants in the diaspora have a dual, strategic view of their settlements is fascinating, if not new. Before this, scholars presented migrants as transnational figures, successively moving to a better place, which finally becomes home. However, the data presented in this paper suggests that this characterization associating migrants with maintaining a “stable, sedentary, bounded and fixed perception of home” is oversimplified. This is because migrants can sometimes continue to cherish the idea of informal settlements in the diaspora as home, just as the migrants also entertain the nearby established towns as useful places in their life.

This study aims to assess a sense of place in the context of an Indonesian city through real-time walking experience. With rapid urban development, the cityscape may change, leading to a lack of a sense of place. Here, the sense of place was measured by utilizing individual reactions to different urban design qualities and perceptual qualities during walking. Previous methods on visitors’ evaluation of places, walking experience and photographing, were adapted by adding two more stages: in-depth interviews and a workshop, obtaining participants’ opinions and behaviours. The analysis results showed that the participants experienced the sense of place through physical and non-physical features corresponding to walking speed. While the old buildings and ornament details attracted participants’ attention, this study demonstrated that the two-way interaction with residents also strengthened the sense of place. The major finding was that the participants were concerned about improving pedestrian infrastructure and the conservation of old buildings in the area. With the assistance of in-depth interviews and a workshop, participants’ perspectives were visually reflected in a comprehensive way. This study may be helpful for urban planners to manage the sense of place in historic city centres under the pressure of rapid urban development.

This research focused on negative sense of place, a subject that has not adequately considered in the literature. The main purpose of the study was to examine whether it possible to classify the different feelings of negative sense of place, arrange them in hierarchal order, and test them empirically. The aim of the research is to contribute to better understanding of negative sense and methods for examining it. Interviews were held with Israeli settlers who had been evacuated from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (in 2005) against their will; the research was conducted 3 years after their resettlement. The findings indicate that their perceptions of their places of relocation were negative, but at a relatively low level of (negative) intensity.

With cities expanding globally and human populations becoming increasingly urban, sustaining ecosystems that support human well-being in cities is both increasingly challenging and urgent. City residents can take on important roles in the stewardship of public parks, trees, and waterbodies in their neighbourhoods, and sense of place is often brought forward as a motivation for engagement. In Bangalore, neighbourhood lake groups have partnered with public authorities to improve the restoration and upkeep of the city’s disappearing and increasingly polluted lakes. In this study, we focus on five lake groups to investigate the influence of sense of place on stewardship, specifically place-making—a term used to describe intentional practices to design, improve, and manage ‘good’ public spaces. In each group, three-to-six members were interviewed and a survey tool was used to assess the place attachments and meanings associated with their specific lakes. Findings show that approaches to place-making were influenced by childhood experiences with nature, and an appreciation for what is becoming increasingly scarce in a fast-growing city; greenery, pleasant temperatures, free-flowing water, clean air, and access to nature. Over time, involvement in lake care has reinforced attachment for certain place meanings, but also broadened the range of meanings people are attached to, including seeing the lakes as places to express national and cultural pride. Findings also show that longer involvement in stewardship tends to give rise to a more complex understanding of the lakes’ social and ecological functions, which in turn motivates the lake groups to advocate for a more socially just and nature-oriented approach to lake management. Based on our findings, we propose that stewardship groups can influence how a broader community interacts with and cares for urban green spaces, foster a more complex understanding of the varied benefits green spaces generate, and carve out alternative and more sustainable pathways for the governance of urban ecology.

Civic engagement in environmental management is often seen as linked to sense of place, sometimes with an assumption—explicit or implicit—that strong place attachment promotes a deeper stewardship commitment. This study challenges this idea by arguing that stewardship can develop along different pathways depending on people’s place meanings. We investigate sense of place and stewardship practices by examining three types of civic groups engaged in protecting and restoring waterfronts and water bodies in New York City: environmental groups, community groups and recreational groups. Using semi-structured interviews and Likert scale surveys, we assessed stewardship activities, place attachment and place meanings that group members (n = 31) associate with their site. Our findings show that place meanings help differentiate between groups based on how they currently view the site (as a place of work, a place of home, or a place of use), and the goals of their stewardship. Some groups work to restore what the place was previously, others work to protect what it currently is, while others work to transform their place into something new. These findings demonstrate how stewardship can develop along different pathways, and by taking place meanings into account we can extend knowledge about how sense of place is linked to behavior as well as better describe the different pathways. Place meanings thereby provide a basis for a typology of stewardships that helps describe different roles that civic engagement can take in environmental management.

This paper focuses on sense of place as a cultural ecosystem service and a mediatory experience in grasping a collection of ecosystem benefits. Through phenomenological and social constructionism/relational approaches, we focus on sense of place as a relational entity at both the individual and collective levels. Using content analysis of 32 in-depth interviews with (a) environmental officials and (b) local inhabitants in the region of Ostrobothnia, Finland, the study finds that sense of place is shaped via the interactions of environmental settings and cultural practices. Here, we argue that material and non-material interactions contribute to sense of place. With a phenomenological approach, the study presents the qualities associated with places, such as tranquility, beauty, and uniqueness that are important for achieving both material and non-material ecosystem benefits, while social constructionism/relational approaches indicate that the social dimension of sense of place contributes to ecosystem service benefits through traditional cultural practices. The study also shows a shift in cultural practices from provisioning to recreation in creating meaningful places. The results highlight a multilocal dimension of senses of places, particularly in contemporary lifestyles and increased mobilities.