ABSTRACT
The relationship between place and identity is well discussed in architecture, environmental psychology, landscape architecture, tourism, urban design and urban planning research (see, for example, Chow and Healey 2008; Hall 2006; Hull, Lam, and Vigo 1994; Knez 2005; Lau and Li 2015; Proshansky, Fabian, and Kaminoff 1983; Van Aalst and van Melik 2012; Weiss 2007). Most of these studies, however, revolve around the concept of self-identity – a concept that attempts to explain how one distinguishes oneself from others by various perceptual modes – and argue that ‘through personal attachment to geographically locatable places, a person acquires a sense of belonging and purpose which give meaning to his or her life’ (Proshansky et al . 1983, 60). Since many other factors also affect selfidentity, the attachment to a place, known as place-identity, is considered a cognitive sub-structure of self-identity. Our place-identities do not depend entirely on our experience of the physical reality of places; rather, the social meanings we attach to places play a signifi cant role in defi ning it. A number of studies have focused on how urban festivals in particular affect the experience of a place and thus affect place-identity and, as an extension of it, affect self-identity (Clarke and Jepson 2011; De Bres and Davis 2001; Delbosc 2008; Elias-Varotsis 2006; Guerrero 2013; Guss 2001; Shamsuddin and Ujang 2008).
