Mapping and Measuring Place Attachment to the Coastline of Famagusta

Implementing an urban development strategy by improving the quality of the physical environment could be a potential development model, however, in the case of ignorance of social and psychological values, this potential may harm the city and citizen relationship. Therefore, the bond established between the city and the citizen should be taken into consideration. This bond has a multi-dimensional complex structure and it should be supported by the concept of place attachment. Place attachment is defined as the emotional bonds that individuals establish with their meaningful physical and social environment as a result of their social and individual interactions. Thus, it could be said that the place attachment-based urban development model could be an effective development strategy. This study focuses on people’s interaction with a coastline which is one of the most important components of city of Famagusta. There have been many important turning points during the history of the Famagusta, and as a result of them, the relationship between Famagusta, as well as its citizens with the sea has been changed due to some restrictions (such as military occupations, unorganized transportation, poor urban development, location of the commercial port etc.). This study aims to develop people waterfront relationship in the Famagusta through the selected citizens’ patterns of place attachment and analyses degree of these attachments. Famagusta is a multicultural city due to its extensive student population coming from various countries and tourist. Therefore, the city has a fluid population. On the other hand, today there are mainly two homogenous groups of citizens which are the ones who were born and grow-up in the city before and after the fragmentation of the island in 1974. Therefore, the interaction of these two local groups with the city is decisive for the future of the city. The study wants to reflect the attachment patterns of people, from two generations of citizens, who took part in many social responsibility projects related to the current structure and problems of the city. The study aims to introduce an initial guideline for future waterfront regeneration projects based on the research findings.