Is there no “I” in team? Potential bias in key informant interviews when asking individuals to represent a collective perspective

This paper sought to understand the extent to which, and how individuals use personal or collective language when asked to articulate sense of place from a collective perspective. Understanding a collective sense of place could illuminate place-based connections in natural resource industries, where it is as groups or as institutions that organizations interact with the environment rather than as individuals. While there are well known methods for collecting information about sense of place at the individual level, there is a gap in understanding the best method to collect information at a collective level. We examined the use of key-informant interviews as a method to understand collective sense of place. In Bocas del Toro, Panama, ecotourism and environmentally based organizations are becoming more prolific due to abundant natural resources, making it an interesting case study for understanding sense of place from an organizational perspective. The use of personal and collective language is examined though in-depth semi-structured interviews from 15 environmentally-oriented organizations with a total of 17 interviews. This study specifically examined whether and how key informants, when prompted to speak for their organization, spoke collectively, reflecting a collective perspective versus their own. Methods included both quantitative analysis of personal versus collective language use frequency, and qualitative examinations of how individuals used personal versus collective language. Our results indicated no difference in the frequency with which individuals use personal versus collective language. We found that how individuals situated their perspectives into an organization reflects a complex personal and collective point of view reflecting five themes of personal versus collective language use: 1) sole personal perspective, 2) sole collective perspective, 3) distinction between collective and personal perspective; 4) organization perspective with insertion of “I think”; and 5) personal and collective perspective about organization and greater community. Our research identifies a previously undiscussed potential bias of key informant interviews. These findings have implications for how researchers approach collecting information beyond the individual level.

Relationship between Visitors’ Sense of Place, Recreation Behavior, and Acceptability of Resource Allocation Strategies at a Reservoir Facing a Water Crisis

Municipal drawdowns at public reservoirs can negatively impact recreational uses on site. Therefore, sustaining recreation requires understanding how users relate themselves with the reservoir and the resource therein, and how they will respond to circumstances and policies impacting the resource. Researchers use placedbased theory, particularly sense of place (SOP), to assess the user community’s perspective on the natural resource or recreation site of interest. This study utilized visitor survey data (n=282) from Canton Reservoir in Oklahoma to assess visitors’ sense of place (SOP), and to evaluate the relationship of SOP with their acceptability of alternative water allocation strategies and future intention of visiting the reservoir under depleted water conditions. Visitors had a high level of SOP with the reservoir and supported protective water allocation strategies that either favor the retention of water on-site or ensure a fair distribution between recreation and municipal use. Results suggest a positive relationship between visitors' SOP and their intended trips to the reservoir even under depleted water conditions. The findings highlight the psychological, functional, and emotional benefits associated with the recreational use of the Canton Reservoir, which will in turn help managers make more informed and balanced decisions about water conservation and allocation. Insights from this study will also contribute in literature on the sense of place and protective norms and offers several implications for the management of public reservoirs.

Explorations of Young People’s Sense of Place Using Urban Design Qualities in Surabaya, Indonesia

This study aims to assess a sense of place in the context of an Indonesian city through real-time walking experience. With rapid urban development, the cityscape may change, leading to a lack of a sense of place. Here, the sense of place was measured by utilizing individual reactions to different urban design qualities and perceptual qualities during walking. Previous methods on visitors’ evaluation of places, walking experience and photographing, were adapted by adding two more stages: in-depth interviews and a workshop, obtaining participants’ opinions and behaviours. The analysis results showed that the participants experienced the sense of place through physical and non-physical features corresponding to walking speed. While the old buildings and ornament details attracted participants’ attention, this study demonstrated that the two-way interaction with residents also strengthened the sense of place. The major finding was that the participants were concerned about improving pedestrian infrastructure and the conservation of old buildings in the area. With the assistance of in-depth interviews and a workshop, participants’ perspectives were visually reflected in a comprehensive way. This study may be helpful for urban planners to manage the sense of place in historic city centres under the pressure of rapid urban development.

Sense of place and the city: the case of non-native residents in Lisbon

When immigrants move to a new city, they tend to develop distinct relationships with the urban landscape, which in turn becomes the new setting of their routine-based activities that evolve over time. Previous works in environmental psychology have quantitatively examined non-native residents' development of sense of place towards their new environment. In this paper, we introduce the spatial perspective into studying the sense of place experienced by non-natives in an urban context. We study the person-place bonds, relationships, and feelings cultivated by non-native residents living in the city of Lisbon (Portugal) through an online map-based survey. Then, we carried out spatial analysis aimed at distinguishing and visualizing the different facets of sense of place developed by two participant groups: short-term residents and long-term residents. Results showed that while short-term residents reported bonds with places, long-term residents' senses of place were more intense and broader throughout the city. The correlations, associations, and relationships between participant groups and the dimensions of sense of place allowed us to observe features and patterns that were previously described in the literature, although adding the spatial lenses can potentially provide better insights for urban planning, community development, and inclusive policies.

Replacing place in planning history

Variations are due to happen in the course of Planning History, though there has been an unusual outburst of changes in recent times. Two factors seem to be at the outset of these changes: the crucial growth of global urbanization; and the actual tendency for cities presenting a complex of ‘place’ centralities. Undoubtedly, central to alterations in Planning History are the special conditions of contemporary society, with almost 80% of whose members living in urbanized environments. But next to it comes the extraordinary increase in the production of newly invented ‘places’ under the most diverse forms: entertainment places, themed malls, revamping of historical settings, and so on. This pervading tendency led to changes in planning attitudes, seen as historical in face of their global claims. However, many of the innovative theoretical issues now linked to the concept of place have not been thoroughly examined in the Planning area so far. Additionally, the concept is now engrossing the research interests of other disciplines, which results in important contributions being introduced to its foundational aspects, hence, establishing a transdisciplinary condition to its essence. In fact, planning theory seems now ripe to ‘replace’ its prevalent understanding of place. This paper intends to suggest some of the directions to follow in such an attempt. Methodologically, it will pursue the directions set by three types of conflicts generated by the variations: controversies, contrasts, and challenges. To approach the variations in terms of the controversies implies to realize the duality in the roles places can perform in today’s societal behaviours: a functional as well as an existential one. Indeed, for some scholars, the new invented places of today are appropriated as new places of urbanity, leading to think that we are on the brink of a situation where the perception of place can influence the perception of ‘urbanity’ – urbanity understood as that unique quality forwarded by cities to their citizens in terms of communication and sociability – ultimately entailing new ways of enjoying the urbanity cities have to offer. Contrasts associated to the variations bring to light a duality present in the Planning discipline itself. Previously, the discipline had that the sense of place would derive exclusively from society’s practices, emerging from them as a social construction, whereas today, besides being a social construction, place is also regarded as an economic construction. This is a condition that sometimes exacerbates inherent social contrasts, producing cities dotted with fragments of exception believed to act upon the urban structure as disintegrative factors evidencing latent differences. Finally, to approach the variations in terms of their challenges will direct the focus towards the planning decisions city’s administrators are faced to take when settling to embark on the placemaking + placemarketing game – or not – a challenge cities increasingly are compelled to adhere to, often at the risk of engaging on demanding competitive practices.