Abstract
The research presented in this thesis focused on a critical examination of the concepts of place identity and place attachment and their interrelationship. The empirical work examined the underlying structure of place attachment, the factors associated with place attachment, through the development of a model of place attachment, and the function of place attachment with respect to identity. The work was undertaken in one area of London Docklands which has undergone massive physical and social change in the last decade. As a result it is an area populated by people with a wide range of types and levels of attachment. In addition, given the changes that have occurred in the area, the population’s awareness of their residential environment has been heightened. As such it forms a quasi-experimental situation in which to examine these concepts. Study One considered aspects of the person’s relationship with his/her environment, providing preliminary data on how attachment, representations, identifications and activity relate to one another in a person’s residential area. Study Two was an empirical investigation of the underlying structure of the construct of place attachment, its measurement and determinants. It also examined the relationship between place attachment and local identification. The results showed that place attachment has social, personal and functional components. In addition, place attachment was directly related to the evaluation of the area and social involvement in the area. Place attachment was found to be associated with consonant settlement identifications, specific place identifications and local identifications. Study Three used Breakwell's identity principles (1986, 1992) as a framework to examine a population who had a range of attachments to their residential area and showed how that population used their attachment with respect to identity.