A study on the relationships of place attachment and individual attributes of residents in different vulnerable districts in Taipei, Taiwan

Under the impact of climate change, Taiwan, an island state, has faced the challenges of extreme weather events in recent years. Based on previous studies on climate change and vulnerability in Taipei, Taiwan, this study explores the correlations between place attachment and individual attributes of residents in different vulnerable areas in Taipei. First, this study investigates the integrated vulnerability (IV) of 12 districts of Taipei by overlaying natural vulnerability (NV) and social vulnerability (SV). This study selects four districts with high IV and low IV in Taipei, and with a large proportion of flooded areas, as the study sites. Second, a questionnaire survey (600 respondents) is conducted to examine the correlations between place attachment and the individual attributes of the respondents (age, residence duration, disaster experience, and education) in the four districts. Third, factor analyses are carried out to categorize place attachment into four factors: “security,” “familiarity,” “belongingness,” and “rootedness.” Finally, whether different factors have different relationships with place attachment are elucidated. The results show no consistent correlations between place attachment and individual attributes in areas with different vulnerabilities. Furthermore, by comparing the correlations before and after factor analyses of place attachment, among the four factors of place attachment (security, familiarity, belongingness, rootedness), there are no factors significantly relating to overall place attachment. This study further examines the mediator effect between risk experience and place attachment. The results show no mediator effects in the relationships of “perception → place attachment → coping behavior” and “attitude → place attachment → coping behavior.” Follow-up studies can elucidate factor analyses of place attachment and examine the effect of geographical scale (neighborhood, district, and city) on place attachment.