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Multiple Place Attachment as Mental Border Building

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Identity at the Borders and Between the Borders

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Abstract

Place attachment represents one of the most fundamental ways of drawing boundaries (both real and mental) in the surrounding environment, describing the manner in which people construct themselves in the physical world. Environmental psychologists have carried out numerous studies to analyse the attachment processes at the micro-level, looking at an individual’s connections with his or her home and neighbourhood, its dimensions and correlates. Macro-level studies (emotional attachment to a large region or the whole world) or studies focused on multiple attachment are rare. According to several recent studies (including a survey carried out in Estonia in 2018), a considerable proportion of people report emotional ties with very distant areas/territories, including the whole Earth. Those studies also reveal a positive correlation between different levels of attachment, which casts doubt on the validity of the widespread distinction between localists and globalists. Empirical data indicate that deeper attachment at the local level means also deeper emotional bonding with the larger areas, up to the whole Earth. This may give some hints on how to approach the great challenges of today’s world, which are global in their essence—climate change, environmental pollution, migration pressure etc., taking into account expanding areas of emotional attachment and changing mental borders while organizing our everyday environments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia

    Mati Heidmets & Kadi Liik

Authors
  1. Mati Heidmets
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  2. Kadi Liik
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Correspondence to Mati Heidmets .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Sciences and Health, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia

    Katrin Kullasepp

  2. Department of Human, Philosophical and Educational Sciences, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Salerno, Italy

    Giuseppina Marsico

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Heidmets, M., Liik, K. (2021). Multiple Place Attachment as Mental Border Building. In: Kullasepp, K., Marsico, G. (eds) Identity at the Borders and Between the Borders. SpringerBriefs in Psychology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62267-1_3

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