An Assessment of place attachment in adaptive reuse: reflection on selected historical public buildings in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Adaptively reused historically significant buildings serve as enduring expressions of a city’s cultural heritage. The relationship between people and the built environment, conceptualized as “place attachment,” plays a key role in sustaining the socio-cultural fabric of urban contexts. Prior studies on place attachment in contemporary and historical buildings focused mainly on intangible factors such as meaning, memory, and emotional associations, leaving tangible and spatial dimensions underexplored. In Sri Lanka, adaptive reuse often prioritizes economic objectives over cultural values, reducing user interaction with architectural spaces. This study reviewed existing research to address the gap between place attachment and architectural interpretation in Colombo’s adaptively reused historical buildings. A mixed-methodological framework was adopted, integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches, including observational assessments and structured on-site surveys with 30 randomly selected participants across selected case studies. A theoretical framework was employed to evaluate the influence of specific architectural parameters. The analysis, based on percentage comparisons and a visual coding system, identified Arcade Independence Square as exhibiting the highest levels of place attachment, followed by the Dutch Hospital, with Trace Expert City reflecting the lowest. The findings highlighted the value of integrating architectural features into both historical and modern public buildings. The recommendations provided based on these findings can be utilized to guide architects, planners, and policymakers in future adaptive reuse and modern public design projects in Sri Lanka.