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A Structural Equation Model for Place-based City Love: An Application to Swedish Cities
KTH, School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE), Urban Planning and Environment, Urban and Regional Studies. KTH, School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE), Centres, Center for the Future of Places. Open University, Heerlen, the Netherlands; Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania; Polytecnic University, Benguerir, Morocco; Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland; Uppsala University, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7171-994x
KU Leuven, Belgium.
Open University, Heerlen, the Netherlands; Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania; Polytecnic University, Benguerir, Morocco; Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland.
Open University, Heerlen, the Netherlands; Tyrens, Stockholm, Sweden.
2021 (English)In: International regional science review, ISSN 0160-0176, E-ISSN 1552-6925, Vol. 44, no 3-4, p. 432-465Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Recent years have shown an increasing interest in local factors shaping the happiness or attachment of citizens in regard to their daily living environment, sometimes also coined city love or neighborhood love. This new strand of literature—often framed in the context of the “geography of happiness” or the “economics of happiness”—means an extension of quantitative socio-psychological or socio-economic research on determinants of people’s affection for their living environment, including local quality-of-life, sense of community, place-based social capital, attachment to “urban ambiance,” and so on. The present paper conceptualizes the nature and composition of urban characteristics of place attachment and appreciation (city love) in terms of two constituent factors, viz. city soul (indicators on the perceived intangible attractiveness of the city and its neighborhoods) and city body (indicators reflecting the tangible attractiveness features of the city). This analytical approach will empirically be tested for four Swedish cities. Resident surveys were conducted among a total of 2,573 respondents; the multidimensional relationships between outcome variables and background factors were tested through a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM), which revealed significant effects of Aesthetics, Amenities, Accessibility, Safety and Health, and City Image on place attachment and appreciation (“city love”). A more detailed city level analysis revealed salient place-specific differences. In general, Aesthetics seemed to be the most universal driver for city love, while City Image was the most important factor to contribute to city soul.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
SAGE Publications , 2021. Vol. 44, no 3-4, p. 432-465
Keywords [en]
body, city love, city soul, happiness, neighborhood, place-based, structural equation model
National Category
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-290609DOI: 10.1177/0160017620979638ISI: 000599336900001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85097623469OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-290609DiVA, id: diva2:1535534
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QC 20250318

Available from: 2021-03-09 Created: 2021-03-09 Last updated: 2025-03-18Bibliographically approved

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Kourtit, Karima

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