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In order to make the phenomenological concept sense of place (SoP) pragmatic in design and planning, this research investigates the SoP indicators concerning spatial scales of the physical environment. Seven indicators are extracted from the literature, namely ‘place identity’, ‘place dependence’, ‘nature bonding’, ‘social bonding’, ‘sense of belonging’, ‘familiarity’ and ‘social interaction’. In this paper, their relevance was discussed against ‘place attachment’ which is used interchangeably with SoP in the literature. ‘Place attachment’ and the seven indicators were scored through interviews with residents in general and at the the building, street and neighbourhood scales, in six housing developments selected from Ankara, Turkey. The residents rated their experiences regarding a set of statements for each indicator using the seven-point Likert scale. The data sets then were validated statistically. The correlations between each indicator and ‘place attachment’ in general and at the three scales were identified. The results showed that ‘place identity’ and ‘place dependence’ were the most relevant indicators to SoP, at the street and neighbourhood scales in particular. The second most relevant indicators were ‘sense of belonging’ and ‘social bonding’ at the building and street scales and ‘social interaction’ at the street scale. The research suggests that these five indicators could be employed to evaluate SoP at all scales or guide place-making at a particular spatial scale in planning and design.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of typomorphological changes of residential environments on residents’ sense of place’. Seven housing developments representing different types introduced in Ankara, Turkey since the late 19th-century are selected as case studies. Their morphological characters at the building, street and neighbourhood scales are examined, and typological transformations among the cases in terms of the degrees of continuity are identified. The paper proposes a conceptual model consisting of ten indicators to assess sense of place at the building, street and neighbourhood scales of the residents of the seven cases. The scores of sense of place are generated through structured interviews with the residents and analysed in SPSS. The results show that sense of place is negatively affected by typomorphological changes over time, particularly when mutational changes occur. Continuity in typomorphological transformation helps to maintain sense of place at a desirable level. Furthermore, physical changes at the street and neighbourhood scales have larger impact on sense of place than that at the building scale. The research thus suggests that planning and design should be responsive to traditional types in residential development, particularly at the street and neighbourhood scales to maintain residents’ sense of place.

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