earticle

영어

Place-based theories and research on sense of place, place attachment, and place identity have made a critical contribution to the understanding of our relationships to place. There are three popular conceptualizations of the idea of place, namely sense of place, place attachment and place meanings. The western researches on the theory and methodology become increasingly mature. By taking three ancient villages in China for instance, the article measured place meanings of ancient village residents by designing measurement scale, and analyzed the general characteristics and dimensional structure. The findings showed place meanings was comprised by two dimensions-family and individual identity, community and continuity. Place meanings came more from family and individual identity than from community and continuity. Birthplace was the main factor in the formation of residents place meanings, and family and individual identity is influenced by the residence time in ancient villages as well. Understanding contested meanings of place is important for managers because sense of place and place meanings are often connected to attitudes and expectations about appropriate and inappropriate management or use. Place meanings research in ancient village presented a new perspective for ancient village planning, protection and management research, which also offered basis for the establishment of ancient village protection and management measures.