Place Change and Identity Processes.

Abstract

This study intents to examine the relationship between place change and identity process, using Breakwell’s model (1986, 1992) as framework. In the context of a process of imposed relocation in an old neighbourhood in Lisbon, two groups of residents were studied in two different moments along the relocation process. These two groups differ in terms of their choice of relocation. The generic hypothesis of the study is that relocation, and the residents’ choice changes the relation of the people with the space, the social relationships, and it has also an impact in the resident’s identity. The results show that the relocation process threats the identity principles in the two groups, but in different ways, depending of the residential choice, and also had impact in the social relationships and in the relation of the people with the space. As other studies (e.g.: Twigger-Ross and Uzzell, 1996; Speller, Lyons, and Twigger-Ross, 2002) this research underlines the relationship between changes in physical environment and identity, in the context of residential environment.