Place identity as a dynamic process: the impact of environmental and social changes

People's connection to their environment has acquired various terminologies in the literature, such as place identity, landscape identity, urban identity, place attachment, or generically sense of place. It can be understood as a dynamic process that links individuals and communities to a shared geographic area. Identity to a place has proved to be an important concept for understanding the impact of place changes on people's identity, and also the impact of people changes on place identity. We discuss the importance of the transformations that result from increasing global movement of people across geographies. These processes, whether centred on the territory or on people, lead to changes in identity that can be disruptive in relation to the previous identity. Our objective is to explore the dimensions and motivation of the bonds to places, and the importance of scale and physical and social features, to understand the impact of changes that disconnect people and place.