Sense of Place, Health and Quality of Life

A significant body of theoretical and empirical studies describes 'sense of place' as an outcome of interconnected psychological, social and environmental processes in relation to physical place(s). Sense of place has been examined, particularly in human geography, in terms of both the character intrinsic to a place as a localized, bounded and material entity, and the sentiments of attachment/detachment that humans experience and express in relation to specific places. Scholars in a wide range of disciplines are increasingly exploring the relationship between place and health, and recently, the field of public health has been encouraged to recognize sense of place as a potential contributing factor to well-being. It is evident that over the last few decades, sense of place has developed into a versatile construct. This important book brings together work related to sense of place and health, broadly defined, from the perspective of a variety of fields and disciplines. It will give the reader an understanding of both the range of applications of this construct within approaches to human health as well as the breadth of research methodologies employed in its investigation.

Professor John Eyles and Associate Professor Allison Williams are both based at McMaster University, Canada.

Contents: Preface; Introduction, John Eyles and Allison Williams; A sense of place, a sense of wellbeing, Lily DeMiglio and Allison Williams; Senses of place and emerging social and environmental challenges, Edward Relph; Holistic paradigms of health and place: how beneficial are they to environmental policy and practice?, Ingrid Leman Stefanovic; Qualitative approaches in the investigation of sense of place and health relations, John Eyles; Developing a psychometric scale for measuring sense of place and health: an application of facet design, Allison Williams, Christine Heidebrecht, Lily DeMiglio, John Eyles, David Streiner and Bruce Newbold; The experience of displacement on sense of place and well-being, Lynne C. Manzo; Place, leisure and well-being, Daniel R. Williams and Michael E. Patterson; Sense of place, well-being and migration among young people in Sarajevo, Carles Carreras; Sense of place, and quality of life in post-socialist societies, Marko Krevs; Environment and health: place, sense of place and weight gain in urban areas, Paula Santana and Helen Nogueira; Sense of place, quality of life and (g)local struggles for environmental justice, Michael Buzzelli; In search of the place-identity dividend: using heritage landscapes to create place identity, Gregory Ashworth; Conclusion, Allison Williams and John Eyles; Index.