Place identity and place scale: the impact of place salience.

Abstract

Research about place, place identity and attachment supports the idea that bonds with places may differ depending on the place scale. Based on the view that identity is context-dependent, this paper brings to the table the impact of manipulating the salience of place on the intensity of place identity and place attachment reported. A study was designed to examine place identity and place attachment in two groups of residents (permanent and temporary) at three different scales (neighbourhood, city and country), in which the salience of place scale was manipulated. The results showed that place salience could have an impact on the intensity of place identity and place attachment in permanent residents and temporary residents. The salient effects differ depending on the place scale made salient but do not generally differ according to type of residents. These results are in congruence with the predictions of social identity theory and self-categorization theory and show the relevance of exploring the concept of place identity within this theoretical approach.