Place attachment: How far have we come in the last 40 years?

This paper reviews research in place attachment and organizes the material into three sections: research, method, and theory. A review of several hundred empirical and theoretical papers and chapters reveals that despite mobility and globalization processes, place continues to be an object of strong attachments. The main message of the paper is that of the three components of the tripartite model of place attachment ( Scannell & Gifford, 2010a ), the Person component has attracted disproportionately more attention than the Place and Process components, and that this emphasis on individual differences probably has inhibited the development of a theory of place attachment. Suggestions are offered for theoretical sources that might help to fill the gaps, including theories of social capital, environmental aesthetics, phenomenological laws of order, attachment, and meaning-making processes that stem from movements and time-space routines. ►Despite mobility and globalization processes, place continues to be an object of strong attachments. ►Of the three components of the tripartite model of place attachment, the Person component has attracted disproportionately more attention than the Place and Process components. ►Future theories of place attachment should draw from theories of social capital, environmental aesthetics, phenomenological laws of order, attachment theories, and theories of meaning-making processes through movements and time-space routines.