Does Facilitating Human–Place Bonds Alleviate the Negative Effects of Incivilities on Health?

Abstract

The present study has two purposes—methodological and theoretical. The methodological purpose is to examine a method for the analysis of perceived incivilities and health in urban neighbourhoods. The current study investigates the direct and indirect relationships between the two variables. The theoretical purpose is to measure neighbourhood incivility as a second-order latent variable that represents physical and social incivilities, and investigates place identity and place attachment as mediators in the relationship between incivilities and health. Previous research has focused on a single dimension of incivility. By contrast, the current study considers a multidimensional form of incivility. This quantitative study comprises 265 residents from an urban neighbourhood in Penang, Malaysia. The results of the structural equation modelling suggest that perceptions towards neighbourhood play a mediating role in the relationship between incivility and health. The mediation roles of place identity and place attachment in the relationship between incivilities and health are also supported. Thus, facilitating human–place bonds alleviates the negative effects of incivilities on health in the study neighbourhood. Residents are less attached to neighbourhoods that are perceived as socially and physically deteriorated. Thus, reducing incivilities and improving place attachment may enhance neighbourhood health.

Moving the 2030 Agenda Ahead: Exploring the Role of Multiple Mediators toward Perceived Environment and Social Sustainability in Residential Neighbourhoods

“…It comprises several sections to capture the respondents' demographic characteristics, their perceived social and physical disorder, perception of safety, social cohesion and social sustainability. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to extract the first-order factor structures of the second-order disorder construct, comprising social and physical disorder as first-order constructs [19]. Before executing the main survey, a pilot survey was conducted to check the content validity and ensure that all items and respective constructs in the survey are valid for the target samples.…”

“…These items were measured using an observation checklist for each street segment. To measure disorder, 13 items were developed based on previous studies [19,83,84]. These items include physical and social disorder.…”

“…Increased exposure to neighbourhood disorders can have far-reaching implications for neighbourhood social aspects. Neighbourhood disorders, such as physical disorder (e.g., unkempt lawns and gardens, graffiti, littering and dumping of rubbish in public areas, poor street lighting, numerous vacant houses [19]) and communities with low levels of trust and connections [14] have been shown to prevent adults from participating in social activities. Perceived physical and social neighbourhood disorders have been linked with increased perception of safety and decreased social cohesion due to avoidance behaviours [20].…”

Mediating role of place identity in the relationship between place quality and user satisfaction in waterfronts: a case study of Penang, Malaysia

“…Studies have determined the influencing factors in the formation of place quality within an environment. The factors usually vary, and no common set of factors has been used on place quality formation (Hedayati Marzbali et al , 2021; Maghsoodi Tilaki et al , 2021). These factors consist of safety and security (Potapov et al , 2016), public facilities (Rozhkov and Skriabina, 2015) and environmental quality (Zenker et al , 2013).…”

“…Another critical dimension of place quality is the perception of safety, as it encourages users to communicate and have activities within the environment. Perceived safety is the degree to which individuals feel safe within an environment (Hedayati Marzbali et al, 2021;Hedayati-Marzbali et al, 2017;Abdullah et al, 2021). Perceived safety in public spaces is a dimension of quality of place connected to feelings of being welcome (Brands et al, 2020).…”