Nowhere to hide: Awareness and perceptions of environmental change, and their influence on relationships with place

Abstract

This study explores people's sense of place in the context of the changing nature of their biophysical surroundings. Participants lived and worked within the south coast region of Western Australia. An in-depth qualitative study design was adopted and thematic content analysis employed to identify emergent themes. The findings of this study support the proposition that places are more than mere backdrops to experience, as participants described complex and intimate relationships with their environments. Places were instilled with highly personal meanings and were vehicles for learning and personal growth, they represented family continuity and provided places of spiritual significance and emotional regulation. The complexity and breadth of community attitudes towards the environment was reflected upon by participants, as was the influence of environmental values in maintaining social relationships. Environmental changes, manifesting as degradation to biophysical components, emerged as a salient influence on the way participants structured their relationship with their surroundings. Managers of natural resources need to acknowledge people's awareness and perception of change as mediating variables when examining the effects of their decisions on local environmental quality.

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).