ABSTRACT
Despite decades of advancements in place attachment theory and research, some aspects of the phenomenon remain almost absent from the discourse. In particular, the range of experiences and emotions that contribute to attachments to place continues to be fairly narrowly focused on positive affect and experience. This is especially the case when the places in question are residential settings. Moreover, the political dimensions of place attachments, while increasingly recognized in studies of public land and natural resource management (Devine-Wright & Howes, 2010; Williams & Stewart, 1998) and public space (Di Masso et al., 2011; Dixon & Durrheim, 2000, 2004), are still less well explored in the context of residential settings. The aims of this chapter, therefore, are threefold: first, to give voice to these overlooked dimensions of place attachments so that they may take their rightful place in the discourse; second, to illustrate through empirical research how place attachments are comprised of, and can be complicated by, a range of emotions and experiences; and third, with the results of the aforementioned study, to provide further evidence of the political dimensions of place attachments as played out in a residential context. In doing so, this chapter underscores the need for a dynamic perspective on place attachments that properly reflects their socially constructed nature (see also Devine Wright, Chapter 13 in this volume).
