ABSTRACT
Bonding is central to the human experience. We necessarily form meaningful connections with particular people, groups, objects, and places. These many ties situate and secure us in broader social and physical environments, connect us to the past, and influence future behaviors. Attachment theory focuses on personto-person bonding and proposes that an innate psychological system regulates proximity to an “attachment figure,” a specific person who provides an individual with security and comfort in the face of threats and, at the same time, facilitates their growth (Ainsworth, 1967; Bowlby, 1969/1982). However, as environmental psychologists and others have shown, most people also develop bonds with places (e.g., Altman & Low, 1992; Giuliani, 2003; Lewicka, 2011).
