engleski

Sense of place in a neighbourhood - Vrbik (Zagreb)

The understanding of the concept of place as a subjectively felt and experienced phenomenon opens the way to geographical exploration of human experiences in connection with a place, among them the study of the senses of place. The term sense of place denotes the structure of attitudes and emotions, which individuals or communities have in relation to the area in which they live. In this paper, the concept sense of place is used as a tool in the exploration of attitudes and feelings of residents in the Vrbik district in Zagreb, concerning their neighbourhood. The study is based on a survey conducted in Zagreb on the sample of 132 respondents. The study combined the application of different instruments in order to understand how Vrbik is felt and experienced by its residents. The first tool looked at the level of importance that the residents attribute to various aspects of life in the neighbourhood, that is, functional, aesthetic and social. The second tool focused on the residents’ feelings towards their neighbourhood, namely the feelings of indifference, rootedness and belonging to the community and to the place. In addition, the 5- point Likert scale measured the degree of satisfaction with the neighbourhood as a whole, as well as with specific aspects of the neighbourhood. Several open questions were also included in the survey questionnaire to explain the findings. The methodological flexibility used in this study allowed to get an insight into the wide range of attitudes and feelings of the residents of Vrbik concerning their neighbourhood. We could also draw some general conclusions. Obtained data indicate the overwhelming predominance of the functional attitude to a place of life over the social or aesthetic attitude. Results also show that young people value the social relationships in the neighbourhood more than older people do. They are also in general more affectionate towards their neighbourhood than older residents. Comparative analyses on a larger sample should be necessary to understand whether the identified patterns are locally specific or point out universal phenomena.

sense of place, neighbourhood, Zagreb, Vrbik

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