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Does Place Attachment Predict Wildfire Mitigation and Preparedness? A Comparison of Wildland–Urban Interface and Rural Communities

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Abstract

Wildfires are a common occurrence in many countries and are predicted to increase as we experience the effects of climate change. As more people are expected to be affected by fires, it is important to increase people’s wildfire mitigation and preparation. Place attachment has been theorized to be related to mitigation and preparation. The present study examined place attachment and wildfire mitigation and preparation in two Australian samples, one rural and one on the wildland–urban interface. The study consisted of 300 participants who responded to questionnaires about their place attachment to their homes and local areas, as well as describing their socio-demographic characteristics and wildfire mitigation and preparedness. Hierarchical regression showed that place attachment to homes predicted wildfire mitigation and preparedness in the rural sample but not in the wildland–urban interface sample. The results suggest that place attachment is a motivator for mitigation and preparation only for people living rurally. Reminding rural residents of their attachment to home at the beginning of wildfire season may result in greater mitigation and preparedness. Further research focusing on why attachment does not predict mitigation and preparedness in the wildland–urban interface is needed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the Centre for the Study of Social Change at the University of Western Australia who provided the funding for this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology M304, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Charis E. Anton & Carmen Lawrence

Authors
  1. Charis E. Anton
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  2. Carmen Lawrence
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Correspondence to Charis E. Anton.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Map of the south-west region of Western Australia. The rural areas sampled are circled in red (Color figure online)

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Fig. 2
figure 2

Map of the Perth metropolitan region. The WUI areas sampled are circled in red (Color figure online)

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Appendix 2

See Table 9.

Table 9 Mitigation measures included in questionnaire
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Anton, C.E., Lawrence, C. Does Place Attachment Predict Wildfire Mitigation and Preparedness? A Comparison of Wildland–Urban Interface and Rural Communities. Environmental Management 57, 148–162 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0597-7

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