The role of landscape in place attachment: a study of Kamachchodai and mora wala locales at Negombo

Abstract

The human attachments are created physically and mentally which areeither materialistic or non-materialistic. The strong bonds people develop with their memories, surroundings, locations, senses and people since birth, is known generally as “attachments”. When an attachment is developed with a particular place it is further defined as “place attachment”. This subject has gained much scientific attention in recent years as a topic interwoven with social sciences and has not been much highlighted in the perspective of landscape architecture. Therefore, thisresearch questions,the impacts and role of landscape in the subject of place attachment.The paper discusses place attachment based on theories by scholars such as Law and Altman and subsequently focuses on the element of “landscape” within it, through literature based on landscape such as that of Robert B. Riley. Space, place and people complement each other by coexisting, thereby defining the landscape and creating an intriguing discussion within the study. Since people and landscape are broad topics, the study limits to a particular landscape with a specific group of users. The selected case studies are two significant landmarks in Sri Lanka, namely; Negombo Mora Wala and Kamachchodai Pola. The research was done by interviewing people, as a human dimension which plays a major role. Subsequently various impacts on place attachment, the landscape and its peoplewere studied as the basic material, within which particular elements according theoretical framework based on the tripartite model theory, were focused in depth through data collection and analysis. An idea on the role of landscape within place attachment is apprehended through comparison and analytical discussions and observations of the existing situation of the sites with the theoretical framework formulated.