Nowhere to hide: Awareness and perceptions of environmental change, and their influence on relationships with place
Introduction
The complex relationships between people and places have long been explored through a variety of disciplines and conceptualized in a number of key concepts such as sense of place (Hay, 1998; Tuan, 1974), place identity (Proshansky, Fabian, & Kaminoff, 1983) and place attachment (Altman & Low, 1992). Although heterogeneous definitions and the lack of clearly defined connections between these concepts are characteristic of the literature regarding people's emotional relationships to places (Manzo, 2003), sense of place is generally conceived of as an overarching concept, articulating the relationship between people and place and providing a valuable framework with which to explore the relationship between the biophysical environment and the well-being of its inhabitants (Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001; Stedman, 2003). Interpretive perspectives on environmental features and emotional reactions to them, are articulated via a sense of place (Hummon, 1992). A wealth of terms have emerged within the concept of sense of place to describe people's involvement with their surroundings, although the key focus has been on place identity (Proshansky et al., 1983) and place attachment (Altman & Low, 1992). In order to link these concepts, Jorgensen and Stedman (2001) proposed an attitudinal model, articulating place identity as the cognitive component and place attachment as the emotive component.
The contribution made by the biophysical environment to a person's sense of self is addressed in the literature (see Korpela (1989), Korpela (1992); Korpela & Hartig, 1996), as is the importance of emotional attachments to the environment to develop and maintain identity processes (Twigger-Ross & Uzzell, 1996). In addition, the ways in which people attribute meanings to place have been the focus of a number of detailed studies (Gustafson, 2001; Henwood & Pidgeon, 2001). There is an emerging interest in research on relationships between individuals, communities and their environments, within the context of natural resource management. For example, Williams and Patterson (1996) utilize the concept of ‘place’ as a framework for integrating environmental meanings into natural resource management. Williams, Patterson, and Roggenbuck (1992) and Oreszczyn and Lane (2000), investigated people's emotional, symbolic and cultural connections to hedged landscapes and wilderness areas, respectively, and more recently Cheng, Kruger, and Daniels (2003) examined the powerful influence of ‘place’ within natural resource politics. These authors suggest such politics are as much about stakeholders’ perceptions of place meanings as they are about competition over the allocation and distribution of scarce resources. Cheng et al. (2003) acknowledge however, that people's perceptions of place are typically excluded from natural resource decision making.
The findings from this body of research strongly suggest that changes to the biophysical environment would have impacts for both place identity and place attachment. Despite this, natural resource management as a discourse, which addresses exploitation of components of the biophysical environment and minimization of the environmental and social impacts where possible, rarely considers the psychological impacts of such change (subtle, catastrophic, perceived or otherwise) on the individuals and communities interacting with those environments (Horwitz, Lindsay, & O’Connor, 2002). Studies of the psychological impacts of environmental change have articulated feelings of grief, loss and mourning to the loss of one's home and other places of personal significance (Mazumdar & Mazumdar, 1993; Fried, 2000). However, the focus of such studies has been limited to the impacts of sudden loss as a result of natural disaster or enforced relocation. The psychological impacts of environmental change, as a result of environmental degradation per se, are rarely acknowledged.
As early as 1983, Proshansky et al. highlighted the failure of place identity theories to acknowledge the significant influence of environmental changes. Those who have responded to this call have done so in the context of change within the built environment. For example, Twigger-Ross and Uzzell (1996), in a study of attachment to the residential environment of the London Docklands, during a period of gentrification, used Breakwell's (1986) identity process model to explore the relationship between place and identity. Their study demonstrated a strong relationship between Breakwell's principles of distinctiveness, continuity, self-esteem and self-efficacy, and their respondents’ attachment to place (Gustafson, 2001). Even then Twigger-Ross and Uzzell (1996) called for more research to further understand the relationship between identity and changes within the biophysical environment, particularly in settings other than the residential.
Whilst not wishing to make too great a distinction between the built and nonbuilt environment, we can usefully apply the sense of place framework to instances where decisions are sought about the appropriate management of natural resources. In these circumstances, the use of natural resources invariably results in changes to biophysical surroundings.
Environmental degradation is a prominent community and political issue in Australia (Australian State of the Environment Committee, 2001), a consequence of the way we have used our natural resources like land and water. The need to work towards engaging individuals and communities in land and water resource decisions, and the conservation and restoration of biophysical environments, has become axiomatic at least in agricultural Australia (Beresford, Bekle, Phillips, & Mulcock, 2001). We are particularly interested in whether the degree to which this engagement is effective depends on sensitivity to the implications of change for place identity and place attachment. The aim of the current study is therefore to explore people's perceptions of the changing nature of their biophysical surroundings and how this relates to their sense of place. Gustafson's (2001) three-pole model was used to guide the process of deconstructing the multiple layers of meanings that can be attributed to the physical environment. The development of this model around the themes of self, others and the environment allowed meanings of place to be mapped between themes, rather than forcing meanings into discrete categories (Gustafson, 2001).
Section snippets
Materials
This project used an existing collection of transcribed interviews originally gathered in 2001, for the purpose of a television documentary1 about people living and working within the south coast
Results and discussion
The following section combines the results of analysis with discussion in light of relevant literature. The presentation of results is loosely structured around the three overarching themes ‘personal’, ‘community’ and ‘environmental condition’, adapted from Gustafson's (2001) three-pole model which allows meanings to be figuratively mapped between themes, rather than forced into discrete categories. Selected transcript passages are organized according to these themes, to illustrate the ways in
The learning journey
Knowledge and understanding of the biophysical environment was a significant theme discussed by all participants and was commonly expressed in terms of an ongoing, developmental process. For instance Brigitte and Willem reflected on their involvement in the Landcare2
Developing environmental values
Changes of attitudes and environmental values within the context of the local community were an important issue for the majority of participants. They described growing support for the conservation of native vegetation and for management practices that redress environmental degradation. However, interviewees also recognized these attitudinal changes were still at an early stage of development:
Bush is starting to get acceptance as valuable land that doesn’t need developing to be valuable
Emotive responses to environmental change
Environmental change, more specifically the clearing of native vegetation, emerged as an important issue for all participants. The drastic alteration to the landscape was described emotively with terms such as devastating, depressing, upsetting, ugly and sad. Kaye described her reaction to the large-scale environmental clearing:
It was pretty devastating really, watching all that bush being flattened, but everyone had to, it was sort of get big or get out…but I think a lot of us realised
Discussion
The findings of this study support the proposition that places function as more than a mere ‘backdrop’ to experience (Twigger-Ross & Uzzell, 1996), as participants describe complex relationships with their biophysical surroundings. Although place identity and place attachment are both complex and multi-faceted concepts (Fuhrer, Kaiser, & Hartig, 1993), the way these concepts are used in the literature does not adequately capture the dynamic nature of participants’ relationships with their
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge Mr. Keith Bradby and Mr. Frank Rijavec, who donated their wealth of experience and the body of work on which this project is based, along with the community members of the south coast of Western Australia, who were more than willing to allow their stories to be part of this project.
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