Socio-spatial bonds and local governance: Place attachment and participation within the palencia model forest initiative

Abstract

This study aims to analyze how the affective bonds developed between people and places can influence rural sustainability, as well as how participation in collective initiatives of local governance or Landscape Approach can lead people to build bonds with rural territories and strengthening the desire to remain living there. In 2015, a group of multisector and multilevel stakeholders started working for local governance and sustainability in the center-north of the Palencia province. The Palencia Model Forest Association was created in 2017, in order to develop collective proposals for local revitalization. A qualitative research with case study method was carried on. We conducted 16 stakeholders' in-depth interviews. Using qualitative data analysis, two main thematic categories emerged from the interviews: references of place identity and participation linking with the place. The results show that, in addition to socio-economic reasons, subjective processes are key in the rural depopulation. Meanings of rurality work for or against of place attachment as well. People involved in local governance initiatives show strong bonds with the place, where collective dynamics reinforce them with rural positive assessments. It influences the decision to remain living in the rural place.