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This paper aims to study neighbourhood attachment and satisfaction in a middle-class, high-density and semi-gated neighbourhood in Hong Kong.

Drawing on the findings of survey on 356 households, a principal component analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were conducted to assess how attachment and satisfaction were manifested and whether they were manifested as separate phenomena.

Attachment and satisfaction in neighbourhoods were manifested as separate phenomena. It was further found that residents were broadly attached to and satisfied with their neighbourhood. Of the neighbourhood characteristics identified as influencing satisfaction in previous research, the support was found only for the physical environment and safety but concluded that satisfaction was also influenced by status, neighbourhood youths’ ambition and schools. Contrary to the expectation, the authors did not find support for deeper social bonds as an element of satisfaction. The hierarchical regression analysis indicated that satisfaction may lead to increased attachment.

This study offers policymakers and housing managers’ valuable insights into the management of increasingly large and complex residential neighbourhoods. It helps us understand which initiatives are likely to lead to greater attachment.

Previous studies have focused on neighbourhood attachment and satisfaction in typical low/medium-density settings. This study extends previous efforts to a high-density housing estate of Hong Kong.

The decline in neighbourhoods resulting from globalization and technology, which trigger high rise buildings, has been discussed by several disciplines. Changes in life styles destroy not only traditional neighbourhoods but also open spaces. This situation leads to a decrease in both collective efficacy and neighbourhood attachment. Place attachment would play an important role in overcoming fear of crime and low security perception, which are the most substantial social problems of today's cities. Therefore, it is important that urban designers, architects and landscape architects develop design policies that contribute to place attachment. The aim of this study is to develop models that explain neighbourhood attachment by collective efficacy, open space quality and socio-demographic variables. Kuzguncuk neighbourhood was chosen as a study area because of its unique character, socio-cultural diversity and the collective power that is due to the various social groups in the neighbourhood. This study seeks to answer the following question: Do open space quality, collective efficacy and socio-demographic factors predict neighbourhood attachment? We examined whether attachment to a neighborhood is associated with collective power and perception of open space quality by inhabitants. Therefore, neighbourhood attachment and its predictors were studied in this specific neighbour-hood. Face to face interviews were conducted with 313 inhabitants using a stratified sampling method. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical linear modelling analyses were used to predict neighbourhood attachment. We found that collective efficacy, open space quality, place of birth and length of residence were predictors of neighbourhood attachment. Therefore, to prevent social problems, such as fear of crime, low security perception, loneliness and segregation, policy makers, designers, planners and social scientists should focus on neighbourhoods that have small communities. In conclusion, the quality perception of open spaces should be considered to increase neighbourhood attachment, and inhabitants should be encouraged to use public spaces in which social ties can develop.

Environmental and functional situations of neighbourhoods can play a significant role in maintaining neighbourhoods’ socio-economic activities and residents’ place attachment. This study aims to examine the relationship between architectural identity components (i.e. symbol, ornament and old pattern) and place attachment in Aghazaman neighbourhood as a well-known historic neighbourhood in Sanandaj, Iran.

The study is quantitative in nature and a questionnaire survey was conducted on a sample of 300 respondents to assess the relationships between the architectural identity components and place attachment.

The findings indicate a significant and positive relationship between architectural identity and place attachment, indicating that higher architectural identity is associated with high perceptions of place attachment amongst residents. The results further indicate that the most influencing factor in shaping architectural identity is old pattern, followed by ornaments and symbols.

As place attachment is a strong incentive to maintain social interactions in neighbourhoods and to create a sense of attachment towards the residential environment, attention must be paid to the relationships amongst people, place, meaning and identity.

The architectural elements such as motifs and columns give identity to the image of historic neighbourhoods. The use of architectural identity components can help in decision making of planners and practitioners of urban neighbourhoods. The study was designed to develop a guideline so that future developments in Iran could be monitored to sustain strong neighbourhood attachment.

This paper aims to investigate the association of neighborhood location with place attachment and residential satisfaction.

First, the authors reviewed the literature on place attachment and residential satisfaction, and then generated a questionnaire based on the scales from the literature. The authors surveyed 135 respondents in two neighborhoods of Ankara, a metropolitan city in Turkey: one in the city center, the other in a suburb. To analyze the data, first, factor analysis, and later, multivariate analysis of variance and correlation tests were conducted.

The results indicated that place attachment and residential satisfaction were positively correlated, in congruence with the related literature; however, neighborhood location appeared to be associated only with residential satisfaction. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed with respect to the recent issues on housing.

The effects of neighborhood location on place attachment and residential satisfaction (by comparing two different residential areas of the city) have not been adequately examined in earlier studies. The study results provide an understanding of the effectiveness of residential location on improving place attachment and residential satisfaction and contribute to the existing literature. Although the study findings may not be generalized to other locations in Turkey, this study contributed to the previous studies on place attachment and residential satisfaction by providing data from Turkish residents, which is less often examined.

The study aims to evaluate the relationship among architectural identity, physical identity and neighborhood attachment in a residential neighborhood in the core of Sanandaj, Iran.

This quantitative study conducted a survey of 208 residents in a historic neighborhood. The study hypothesized the mediating role of physical identity on the relationship between architectural identity and neighborhood attachment. Structural equation modeling using analysis of a moment structures (AMOS) software was used to test the research hypotheses.

Research findings show the reliability and validity of the proposed model. The results indicate a significant relationship between architectural and physical identity and a significant direct relationship between physical identity and neighborhood attachment. However, no significant direct relationship is found between architectural identity and neighborhood attachment, and only a significant indirect effect is found through physical identity. Therefore, architectural identity elements contribute to increasing physical identity and subsequently attach to the neighborhood.

Given the necessity for revitalizing the neighborhoods in the historical core of the cities to prevent the migration from old neighborhoods and the destruction of the valuable fabrics, establishing emotional relationships between residents and the place and improving interactions among residents is required. The mental values of residents change over time. Although the identification and use of identity elements in residential buildings is a significant way to revitalize the historic residential fabrics, only a few studies have experimentally assessed the impact of architectural identity elements in the creation of physical identity on the residents’ attachment to the historic neighborhood.

Attachment to place is a positive emotional bond that develops between individuals and their environment (Hunter, 1978; Altman & Low, 1992). It is a state of psychological well-being experienced as a result of the accessibility of place, or conversely a state of distress set up by the remoteness of place (Giuliani, 1991). This attachment is important because it generates identification with place and fosters social and political involvement in the preservation of the physical and social features that characterize a neighborhood. In fact, a number of studies have shown that the stronger the neighborhood attachment, the more likely individuals are to develop a set of norms and to exert effective formal and informal social control that reduces crime (Sampson & Groves, 1989) and to fend off attempts to change the social and physical nature of the area (Mesch, 1996).

The paper aims to ascertain whether residents in Nguyen Du ward still sort their waste at source following the end of the 3R project that ended in 2009. Additionally, this paper aims to explore the relationship between waste separation practices and social bonds.

The Travis Hirschi theory of social control was applied, together with the mixed method research design which included a structured questionnaire survey. Twelve semi-structured interviews were also conducted with residents and the data processed by SPSS software, using Chi-Square test, Independent-Samples t-test and Pearson's correlation analysis.

A proportion of respondents has continued practicing waste separation since the 3R project ended. The study also indicated that the greater the involvement in family and neighborhood activities the more the participants were likely to practice waste separation.

The small sample size limits the extent to which the most influential factors can be determined and therefore the degree to which the findings can be generalized.

The study includes implications for rerunning the waste separation programs for households as together with community campaigns to improve individuals' attachment and commitment and thus their participation in pro-environmental behaviors.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to take a sociological approach to investigate factors affecting household waste separation, which has attracted little attention in previous studies. Useful information is also provided to local authorities for a policy-making process to implement effective domestic waste policies.

Residential satisfaction can be viewed as a part of life satisfaction. There are many studies related to the relationship between residents’ satisfaction with their environments and the quality of those environments. The purpose of this paper is to examine how this satisfaction differs according to the type of residential environment.

It is based on empirical data on the quality of life in the different residential environments of the Istanbul Metropolitan Area. The primary source of information was a household survey.

In an attempt to find solutions to problems with the quality of residential environments, the data were analyzed through several variables related to the subjective perceptions of residential satisfaction. According to the results of the research, residents living in planned neighborhoods in the city are more satisfied than those living in unplanned neighborhoods. The residents who live in the planned sections of the city are satisfied with the attractiveness and accessibility of their neighborhoods, while those who live in unplanned sections of the city are satisfied with their level of attachment to their neighborhoods.

The study was designed to produce baseline data so that future changes in residential conditions as perceived by the residents of Istanbul could be monitored to support decisions for residential areas.

Comparative case studies, especially on planned vs unplanned environments, are relatively limited in number. Therefore, there is a need for new researches examining differences between different residential settings within cities. This study adds value to the field of comparative studies on residential environments.

In an urbanising world, neighbouring is perceived to be steadily losing significance and a remnant of the past. The same belief can also be found in China where rapid urbanisation has had a tremendous impact on the social networks and neighbourhood life of urban residents. This chapter challenges the common perception of neighbouring in demise and argues that neighbouring remains an important form of social relationship, even if the meanings and role of neighbouring have changed. This chapter first charts the changing role of neighbouring from the socialist era to post-reform China. It then provides an account of four common types of neighbourhoods in Chinese cities – work-unit estates, traditional courtyards, commodity housing estates and urban villages – and considers how and why neighbouring in different ways still matters to them. In pre-reform socialist China, neighbourhood life and neighbouring comprised much of the daily social life of residents. Since the reform era, with the proliferation of private commodity housing estates, middle-class residents prioritise comfort, security and privacy, such that neighbouring levels have subsided. Nevertheless, in other neighbourhood types, such as work-unit housing estates, traditional courtyards and urban villages, neighbours still rely upon one another for various reasons.