COGNITIVE MAPPING AS A METHOD TO ASSESS PEOPLES’ ATTACHMENT TO PLACE

ABSTRACT

Over the past five decades, the methodological approaches used to understand peoples’ emotional ties to place have been incredibly diverse, employing both quantitative and qualitative techniques (Lewicka 2011). In recent years more ethnographic, participatory visual methods such as cognitive (mental) mapping, narrative mapping, and psychogeography are showing considerable promise in revealing peoples’ attachment to place. This article seeks to illustrate how mental mapping and walking interviews can be used as an effective tool in exposing peoples’ deep emotional connection to place. With a focus on a student-centered business district in Manhattan, Kansas, we demonstrate that Aggieville exemplifies all three types of emotional attachment: functional, territorial, and emotional. Students are functionally attached to Aggieville because it provides nearly all their foundational needs (e.g. food, clothing, housing, employment) enabling them to achieve their life goals. Students demonstrate territorial attachment because Aggieville is a space created by students for students and the accepted activities and behavior are intended for students only. Students have also established an emotional attachment to “The Ville” because it is an important place for them to socialize and bond with others.

Keywords:

• Aggieville
• cognitive mapping
• mental maps
• place attachment
• psychogeography
• walking interviews

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the individuals who participated in the walking interview, Alex Diener and Joshua Hagen for coordinating the special issue on place attachment, and the anonymous reviewers for their insights and valuable contributions to this article.

Notes

1. Jacqueline Curtis (2016) provides an excellent overview of the evolution of mental mapping.