Sense of Place

TLDR

Sense of place, shaped by socially constructed brand meanings, is crucial for destination branding and must be understood from residents’ perspectives. The study proposes a sense‑of‑place model that centers local residents to guide effective destination branding. The model emphasizes positioning people at the core of the branding strategy to develop an effective destination brand. In the Chatham Islands, time, ancestry, landscape, and community were found to determine residents’ sense of place.

Abstract

Given that brand meanings are socially constructed and culturally dependent, we advocate that a destination branding strategy should begin by understanding what constitutes sense of place as experienced by local residents. The constructs of time, ancestry, landscape, and community were identified as determinants for the sense of place by inhabitants of the Chatham Islands of New Zealand. These constructs comprise meanings that influence the habitus and define sense of place. This article contributes to our understanding of place by providing a sense of place model to support scholarship in destination and place branding. Destination branding activity ought to be significantly influenced by an in-depth appreciation of the sense of place for those whose place it is. Our emergent model emphasizes the importance of understanding sense of place and positioning the people of the place at the centre of a branding strategy for the development of an effective destination brand.