Environmental Concern: Examining the Role of Place Meaning and Place Attachment

As landscapes change, it is important to understand how attachments and meanings attributed to place may affect environmental quality and social well-being. To understand and apply sociological insights to policy and management efforts it is not sufficient to simply demonstrate that individuals or groups have strong emotional connections with a particular geographical locale. Rather, it is imperative to understand the implications of attachments, and meanings related to them. We focus our attention in this area on watershed management. Quantitative data are used to conduct an analysis of the interactions between place attachment, place meanings, and environmental concerns in a high-natural-amenity watershed in New Hampshire. Results from quantitative analyses important for understanding the dynamics between place attachment, place meanings, and various dimensions environmental concerns are presented. We find a strong role for place meanings, rather than place attachment, in predicting environmental concern, as well as an independent effect of place-transcendent fundamental values.