Polfliet, Sara, S. (2020) Place attachment in a mobile society: Understanding the relations with place among students. A qualitative study about place attachment of HE students from the Netherlands towards their university town. Master thesis.
|
Text
Master thesis_Sara Polfliet_s3012964_students_place attachment.pdf Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Modern society is a society on the move. People go to work, they travel around the world or move to another town in search for better opportunities. It can be argued that places do not hold the same value as before and could be less important to people nowadays. An underlying assumption is that there exists an opposition between mobility and place attachment. Yet, a growing body of research suggests that place matters to people and have shown the importance of place attachment. In the light of these contradicted premises, students’ place attachment is an interesting topic. Students are characterized by high levels of mobility. This study explores the development of place attachment towards the university town of non-local students from the Netherlands. Besides, it examines whether mobility has influence on the student’s place attachment. The research was conducted in Groningen, the Netherlands. Ten students were asked to photograph places that play a significant role in their lives in the university town. These, along with questions about their development of place attachment were discussed in semi-structured in-depth interviews. Findings show that the student’s place attachment runs in a s-curve: from the relatively slower development of place attachment in the transition period, to a high increase of place attachment during their studies, and at last a stagnation or stabilization of attachment in the end stage of student’s study time. This development differs between the students, due to personal characteristics, such as migration history and milieu of origin. Despite the differences in personal characteristics, they all experienced the ‘student culture.’ This shared meaning shaped the student’s place attachment and their view towards the city. The city of Groningen fits their needs as a student, and facilitate their student lifestyle, which positively influenced their attachment. When time passed, the curve of place attachment stagnated or stabilized. This could be explained by that multiple students experienced a disruption in their social world. Additionally, the students are influenced by a society whereas mobility is common, moving to other places is easier. Therefore, the students knew the city was important for study purposes and their student lifestyle, but when finishing their study, the city is not seen as suitable. Consequently, they had a more loosening tie with Groningen, because they knew they will move in the future. This does not mean they are not attached towards their university town, but the curve of their attachment will flatter as time goes by.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Degree programme: | Society, Sustainability and Planning (MSc Socio-spatial Planning) |
| Supervisor: | Horlings, L.G. |
| Date Deposited: | 30 Jun 2020 07:04 |
| Last Modified: | 30 Jun 2020 07:04 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3209 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |