Place Attachment and Disaster Preparedness: Examining the Role of Place Scale and Preparedness Type

Research shows that place attachment is associated with disaster preparedness. In two studies we examined (1) participants’ place attachment at different spatial scales, (2) participants’ preparedness (intentions and behaviors), and (3) place attachment as a mediator of previously identified demographic predictors of preparedness. Our findings show that place attachment is associated with both preparedness intentions and behavior. When controlling for socio-demographic predictors, participants who reported stronger house and neighborhood attachment also reported stronger intentions to prepare (Study 1). In Study 2, house attachment was associated with mitigative preparedness behavior, whereas neighborhood attachment was associated with community preparedness behavior. House and neighborhood attachment mediated the relationship between home ownership, length of residence, and preparedness. These findings suggest that place attachment varies by spatial scale which matters for different types of disaster preparedness. House and neighborhood attachment should be considered as relevant predictors of mitigative and community preparedness in at-risk communities.

A Case Study of Walkability and Neighborhood Attachment

The neighborhood attachment provides psychological benefits and has positive behavioral consequences for residents and communities. Much of the literature examines the impacts of individual and social indicators as predictors of place attachment. This research paper concentrates on the place dimension of this bond, examining influences of the built environment in the context of perceived walkability on neighborhood attachment and determining which variables of neighborhood walkability have the most significant impact on promoting neighborhood attachment. Moreover, the effects of neighborhood walkability variables on three main dimensions of neighborhood attachment, namely emotional, functional, and behavioral, are compared. In this study, we draw a random sample of 348 Ekbatan residents aged 15 and above by using the stratified sampling method, and a multidimensional scale is adopted to measure neighborhood attachment and walkability. The findings confirm that respondents assign high or very high ranks to both variables.

Neighborhood Quality and Attachment

Various studies have shown that neighborhood quality is linked to neighborhood attachment and satisfaction. However, most have relied upon residents’ own perceptions rather than independent observations of the neighborhood environment. This study examines the reliability and validity of the revised Residential Environment Assessment Tool (REAT 2.0), an audit instrument covering both public and private spaces of the neighborhood environment. The research shows that REAT 2.0 is a reliable, easy-to-use instrument and that most underlying constructs can be validated against residents’ own neighborhood perceptions. The convergent validity of the instrument, which was tested against digital map data, can be improved for a number of miscellaneous urban form items. The research further found that neighborhood attachment was significantly associated with the overall REAT 2.0 score. This association can mainly be attributed to the property-level neighborhood quality and natural elements components. The research demonstrates the importance of private spaces in the outlook of the neighborhood environment.

Residential environment quality and neighborhood attachment in open and gated communities

Our study evaluated the residential environment quality among residents of both traditional open communities and gated communities (fenced), with the latter becoming increasingly popular in Poland. For this purpose the Perceived Evaluation of Residential Environment Quality and Place Attachment Questionnaire (Dębek, Janda-Dębek, 2015) was used, which is a Polish adaptation of Abbreviated Perceived Residential Environment Quality & Neighborhood Attachment Indicators (APREQ & NA, Bonaiuto, Bonnes, Fornara, 2010). Sixty residents of two Wrocław communities (open and gated) were examined. Our study revealed that residents of the open community evaluate their residential environment better and they are more attached to it than residents of the gated community.

Perceived Residential Environment Quality and Neighborhood Attachment (PREQ & NA) Indicators by Marino Bonaiuto, Ferdinando Fornara, and Mirilia Bonnes – Polish adaptation

There have been increasing calls in environmental psychology for the standardized instruments measuring people’s subjective perception of urban environment quality. One such tool is a commonly accepted and oft-cited questionnaire for measuring perceived urban environmental quality, the Perceived Residential Environment Quality & Neighborhood Attachment (PREQ & NA) Indicators, developed by a team of Italian researchers: Ferdinando Fornara, Marino Bonaiuto, and Mirilia Bonnes. This article presents the results of the PREQ & NA’s adaptation study that we conducted in Poland. The adaptation project was divided into several qualitative and quantitative stages spanning April 2013 to December 2014. A total of 200 participants were examined, 99 women and 101 men aged between 18 and 89. We cooperated with six English and Italian translators. The results of our study demonstrated a factorial validity of the tool’s Polish language version relative to both the Italian original and its recent Iranian adaptation, which we used for comparisons with the data obtained in a non-European cultural area. In addition to describing the entire adaptation procedure and presenting its results, we propose that a number of minor but necessary modifications be made in the Polish version, as indicated by our analyses. Following a positive verification and discussion of the Polish adaptation’s convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity, we propose the final Polish version of the adapted questionnaire.