Territorial attachment in the age of globalization: The case of Western Europe

Abstract

The age of globalization has often been associated with de-/re-territorialization processes. The increasing integration of markets and the appearance of new modes of economic production and capital accumulation on the one hand, and the transformation of forms of political governance on the other, have led to the emergence of new territorial actors at the supra-national and sub-national scales. While these economic and political de-/re-territorialization processes have been studied at length, relatively little attention has been paid to the transformation of the territorial identities associated with these spaces. The aim of the present study is twofold. First, it aims to understand whether territorial identities are experiencing a similar re-scaling along with modes of economic production and forms of political governance. Second, it explores which factors today explain the attachment of people to their territories. A descriptive analysis of Eurobarometer survey data for Western Europe reveals no signs of a re-scaling of territorial identities, pointing to a sort of inertia of these identities in relation to the changing of political and economic structures. A statistical model on four scales of territorial attachment (local, regional, national and European) shows the complexity of its formation, as both personal compositional and regional contextual factors should be taken into account.

Is Out of Sight out of Mind? Place Attachment among Rural Youth Out‐Migrants

“…As emphasised in the literature, modern society is characterised by increased mobilities (Urry ) and is ‘a society on the move’ (Gustafson , p. 37), which questions the significance and meaning of places as frameworks for people's lives and identity formation (Wiborg ; Lewicka ; Gustafson ). While rural‐to‐urban migration and the transition to higher education can cause homesickness (Chow and Healey ; Scopelliti and Tiberio ) and a feeling of being ‘betwixt and between’ (Wiborg ), place attachment can be used as a means to cope with the uncertainties of relocation by supporting the individual in facilitating and maintaining ‘loyalties and attachments to different territorial aggregates’ (Antonsich and Holland , p. 5). Social relationships can provide stability and help build bridges between past and present when moving to a new place (Corcoran ; Condon ), just as memories and nostalgia provide important anchor points from which we embed ourselves in particular places (Lewicka ; Leyshon ).…”

Territorial changes and changing identities: how spatial identities are used in the up-scaling of local government in the Netherlands

“…This is mostly done by comparing local identification with the identification with other spatial levels (Kato 2011;Casey 2010;Jones and Desforges 2003;Antonsich 2007Antonsich , 2010aAntonsich , 2010bSoguel & Siberstein 2015;Brown and Deem 2014;Moreno 2007). Through this focus on individual identity, they neglect studying the characteristics of local identities and their importance for local communities.…”

Regional identity of personality: childhood experience

“…Being a cross-disciplinary one, the concept of regional identity in Russia is regarded within sociology, political science, geography, cultural studies [1,2,6,7,12,16,18,19,22,24].…”