Abstract
Attachment to place is a set of feelings about a geographic location that emotionally binds a person to that place as a function of its role as a setting for experience. In other words, life experiences may have an emotional quality that suffuses the setting to produce an affective bond with the place itself. Attachment and attachment behavior have traditionally been viewed as arising from early life experiences (Bowlby, 1958). This chapter takes a complementary view, that attachment behavior and concerns are life course phenomena. For older people in particular, place attachment is related to experience of the life course and themes of self-identity that span that life course. While attachment to place may be lived either currently or as part of memory, it exists within the larger context of the events of the life course, how they are interpreted, and the need to maintain a coherent sense of self over time.
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Rubinstein, R.I., Parmelee, P.A. (1992). Attachment to Place and the Representation of the Life Course by the Elderly. In: Altman, I., Low, S.M. (eds) Place Attachment. Human Behavior and Environment, vol 12. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8753-4_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8753-4_7
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