Does Sense of Place Have a Biological,
Evolutionary Foundation?
Altman and Low (1992) hypothesized that there is a biological component operating
in the attachment of people to places. Although measuring such an assertion directly
is difficult, several studies provide inferential evidence that people may be “hardwired”
to appreciate certain types of scenery, therefore predisposing us to develop
place attachments. For example, Kaltenborn and Bjerke (2002), in a study examining
the connections between landscape preferences and place attachment, found that
natural landscapes (versus sites with greater human impact) were clearly those most