How Place Attachment in Different Landscapes Influences Resilience to Disasters: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Human species have colonized many different landscapes since their emergence on Earth, even the extreme ones, preferring landscapes with high biodiversity to look for different resources. This led to a strong connection between individuals and the landscapes in which they live. For landscapes prone to natural hazards leading to disasters, attachment is an essential non-structural aspect that should be considered when discussing community resilience. Thus, to develop efficient strategies for improving resilience to disasters, it is mandatory to understand how such an attachment can influence this process. Many scholars have addressed the role of attachment in the case of disasters; nevertheless, its influence on community resilience is still understudied. In this paper, to provide an insightful overview of the studies that address this specific aspect, a systematic literature review (SLR) using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology was carried out. Since the concept of attachment has declined in the literature in different dimensions, this SLR encompasses all these dimensions under the broader concept of place attachment (PA). The review highlights that the current literature recognizes a substantial role for attachment in influencing the resilience of disaster-prone communities, but there is no consensus on whether this role is either entirely positive or entirely negative. Given the nuances of the concept of landscape attachment, a better understanding of how to use this non-structural aspect for disaster adaptation measures represents a needed future direction in this field.