The impact of place attachment on pro-environmental behavior in educational spaces based on Seamon's theory (Case study: Girls' schools in Urmia)
Furugh Mirzaalipour
1
(
)
Razieh Labibzadeh
2
(
)
Babak Motiei
3
(
)
Keywords: Place attachment, environmentally friendly behavior, educational environment, girls' school, high school, Seamon’s theory, environment,
Abstract :
In today's global society, the environment is considered one of the most important components for human communities. The interactions between humans and the environment, which occur continuously, influence human behavior towards the environment and shape environmentally friendly or supportive behaviors. Place attachment as a key structure for explaining environmental behaviors has been identified; however, the precise power of its impact has not been documented. The primary research question is how place attachment influences environmentally friendly behavior, and whether, in general, place attachment can significantly impact environmentally friendly behavior or not? This study aims to investigate Seamon’s theory as one of the influential theories in the perspective of place attachment to identify the main factors. Then, based on these main factors with an impact on place attachment, interventions will be conducted to examine their influence on environmentally friendly behavior. To achieve the objectives, two steps are taken. In the first step, a descriptive-analytical research method is employed to examine Seamon’s theory through a library study and extract influential components. Then, a semi-experimental design of pre-test-post-test with three-month follow-up was conducted with the intervention group. The results indicated that training in environmentally friendly behavior and environmental advocacy was effective in the post-test phase, and environmental conservation changes continued during the follow-up phase. Additionally, the results showed that even the control group attempted to preserve and maintain plants and the physical structure of classrooms and schools upon observing these changes in the experimental group during the implementation of green spaces and gardening in the classrooms. This demonstrates that strengthening environmental factors increases place attachment, consequently positively influencing environmentally friendly behavior. Given the effectiveness of the interventions, environmentally friendly behaviors can be incorporated into school-based programs to preserve the environment and the future of the world.
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