Place attachment and identification as predictors of expected landscape restorativeness

摘要

This study explores the roles of place attachment and place identification in the evaluation of the restorative potential of landscapes. Two hundred university students recruited at campuses in the Basque Country (Spain) and Chile evaluated the restorative value of a set of landscape photographs including local and non-local locations. The results indicated that local natural landscapes were preferred and assessed as more restorative as compared to non-local ones, and that place attachment and identification positively predicted their restoration ratings. Conversely, urban local landscapes were less preferred and seen as less restorative than their non-local counterparts. In this latter case, attachment remained a positive predictor whereas identification was found to negatively contribute to the restorative potential of local urban landscapes. In line with recent research, we found that person-place bonding affects landscape preferences and the perception of its restorative properties. This study contributes to an emerging line of research that addresses the role of a wider set of personal, social and cultural variables in the psychological restoration process.