Bioregionalism in a UK Context: The Interrelationship Between People, Place and Non-human Nature

摘要

Bioregionalism advocates the use of `natural' units rather than administrative units for the deliveryudof landscape management, planning and decision making. Over the past decade` bioregional'udframeworks have been developed as a means of delivering landscape policy in an integratedudmanner, across the wider countryside in the United Kingdom. Important within bioregionalism isudthe hybrid relationship between people, place and non-human nature. This thesis acknowledges thisudrelationship and investigates the concept of a sense of place in a UK bioregional context.udTwo types of bioregions were used as the basis for this study: Natural Areas and river catchments.udUsing evidence from document analysis, interviews and focus groups, I examined the way in whichudparticipants related to the bioregion in which they live. The evidence analysed suggests that a senseudof place is more than just a concept and occurs at a range of different spatial scales. This sense ofudplace is complex and integral to the relationship between people and non-human nature, with non-humanudnature being an important factor in how people relate to place.udI concluded that although bioregional frameworks are a relatively recent development within theudUK, participants could relate to these units and had a sense of attachment or sense of place inudrelation to these frameworks. A sense of place was important to the participants within this researchudand there is the potential to utilise this in relation to working at a wider and more integrated leveludwith the planning, management and conservation of the UK landscape.