Place Attachment in the Historical Texture of Cities BandarCase Study: Bandar Lengeh

Today, due to the dramatic increase in urban population, urban spaces have encountered numerous economic, social, environmental and physical challenges. These challenges have led scientists in various sciences to agree on the importance that the current society going through a long period of instability. Urban instability in its various dimensions has caused the city and contemporary urbanism face new challenges such as diminishing identity and place attachment. However, one of the main bases for paying attention to the sustainability of living in urban spaces is the one's place attachment and activity in urban spaces. This attachment is the factor that turns a space into a place with special sensory and behavioral characteristics for certain individuals. Place attachment not only causes a sense of comfort from an environment, but also makes the achievement of identity for individuals. Place attachment with components such as natural elements and environmental comfort, spatial qualities, accessibility and permeability, functions and activities, furniture and equipment, identity, readability, beauty and symbolism, social interactions and time in urban spaces play an effective role in economic, social and environmental-physical sustainability.  Regarding the spatial differences between urban spaces and historical textures of different cities, investigating the situation of a place attachment in the historical and new textures of each city can play an important role in planning different urban textures.

The present research is applied and quantitative in terms of purpose and methodology, respectively. Documentary and field methods have been used to collect the required data. The statistical sample size was estimated using Bartlett et al. (2001) table. In the historical texture which included 2046 households, 190 individuals were considered as a statistical sample and in the new texture with 6406 households, 209 individuals were considered as a statistical sample. The main research tool is a researcher-made questionnaire that has been extracted based on theoretical foundations and research records. The first part of the questionnaire is allocated to the individual characteristics of the respondents and the second and third parts are allocated to the dimensions, components, indicators and variables of place attachment in the historical texture and the new texture of Bandar Lengeh. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the opinions of university professors and experts. Cronbach's alpha coefficient indicated the reliability of the tools used.

The average age of the historical texture’s residents was 44 years (the youngest and the eldest were 23 and 67 years, respectively). The average monthly income status was 2.5 million Tomans and the average residence period of the residents of the historical texture was 26 years. 136 respondents were male and 54 female. 8% of the respondents were illiterate, 18% had primary education, 24% secondary education, 32% diploma and 18% had a university education. The average age of the new texture residents of Bandar Lengeh was 46 years and the youngest and eldest were 19 and 59 years, respectively. The average monthly income status was 3 million Tomans and the average residence period of the new texture residents was 5 years. 142 respondents were male and 67 were female. 5% of the respondents were illiterate, 14% had primary education, 21% secondary education, 28% diploma and 32% had a university education. 

The results of the present study showed that the place attachment in the historical texture of Bandar Lengeh is in a proper condition. The result obtained is consistent with the findings of Montazer Al-Hijja et al. (2016) regarding the sense of place in the historical neighborhoods of Yazd, Ananhad et al. (2019) about the place attachment in the old neighborhood of Sagharisazan Rasht, and Yazdani et al (2019) on the place attachment in the outskirts of Ardabil. The results showed that in contrast to the historical texture of Bandar Lengeh, the general situation and most of its components in the new texture of this city are in an unfavorable situation. The results of the study are consistent with the studies of Bezi et al. (2014), Sarai et al. (2016), and Mohammad Moradi et al. (2019) who have pointed to the unfavorable situation of the place attachment. Regarding the comparison of the place attachment in the historical and new texture of Bandar Lengeh, the results showed that at the level of 95% confidence, the place attachment status in the historical texture is better than the new texture of this city which is consistent with the results of Montazer Al-Hijja et al. (2016) regarding the place attachment of historical and new neighborhoods of Yazd. According to the results of the proper condition of the historical texture of Bandar Lengeh in comparison with the new texture in terms of the place attachment and its components, preservation, and recreation of the historical texture of Bandar Lengeh is necessary and inevitable. It is suggested that in designing and developing the new texture of this city, more attention be paid to the components of the place attachment, especially natural elements and environmental comfort, etc., and the historical texture of Bandar Lengeh be used as a model for the planning and managing new urban texture. Limitations of the research include the prevalence of Covid19 and the reluctance of citizens to complete the questionnaire. In order to increase the coherence of the subject under study and fill the gap in this field, according to the results, the suggestions are the study of factors affecting the place attachment in the historical context of Bandar Lengeh in the form of a native model; Identifying the key drivers affecting the place attachment in the historical context of Bandar Lengeh with a future research approach.