Place attachment, turnover and social mix

The overall aim of this project is to understand better the drivers of individual attachment to place and to identify the impacts on place attachment of neighbourhood instability and social mix. Place attachment is generally seen as having positive impacts for individuals and for neighbourhoods. For individuals, it may provide security, access to social networks and/or a sense of identity. For neighbourhoods, it is associated with stable, cohesive areas. The concept clearly sits well with current policy concerns with “sustainable communities” and with building social capital as a means of promoting area regeneration. In deprived areas, however, there appear to be two particular threats to place attachment: the instability of the population in many of these areas; and the efforts of policy to promote social mix, since attachment is usually associated with homogeneity. This project combined quantitative and qualitative research to address these issues.

Please click here to go to the JRF website for a copy of the final report and summary findings.

Funder: Joseph Rowntree Foundation