Determining the Motivating Factors of Place Sense in Rural Society Using Structural Equation Modeling (Case Study: Rural Zone of East Azerbaijan Province)

The sense of place expresses a kind of emotional and interactive relationship between the man and the setting. It creates a positive relationship with the bonding between the people and the place. Sense of place is causing the positive qualitative and satisfactory reception of the place for residence. The creation of mentioned concept is important in maintaining the quality of the setting as well as the integrity of human life within it. Over the past four decades, researchers in environmental and human sciences have been researching and commenting on this concept. Many scholars argued about vague of that concept, relationship between the concept of the sense of place and the psychological and perceptual factors of man, Society and characteristics of the physical setting. The nested interaction of those factors in formation of sense of place has caused complexity in its definition. On the other hand, the lack of consensus of the theorists offer a single definition, and sometimes provide close or alternative definitions of concepts such as "structure of the place", "spirit of place", "place dependence", "place attachment", “place identity” and etc. Therefore, it is difficult to apply theories to the creation of the place by the architects and urban planners and other specialists related to the creation of the place. Also, a review of the research has shown that researchers are focusing on urban communities, and the laches of research in this area is highly felt in rural settings. As one of the contemporary problems facing rural communities in Iran is migrating and Leaving the village, and the use of factors that increase the linkage of villagers whit their living place can be effective in reducing this trend, thus determining the factors that clearly explain the mechanism of sense of place and making it possible to apply it in the field of rural planning, architecture, landscape design, and the creation of rural places, is the main objective of this research. The research was carried out in two stages; in the first stage, by the method of articles review, analyzing and gaining of logical argumentation, the main dimensions of the sense of place are defined and the theoretical model of sense of place have been developed. In the second stage, with a survey method and using questionnaires, 391 samples selected in Randomly Cluster Sampling Method from villages that have over 20 households in the East Azerbaijan Province, then with Structural Equation Modeling technique, the theoretical model has been tested and the feature of its factors is determined. The results show that the main dimensions of the sense of place are explained in three dimensions of environmental-physical, operational-functional and individual-social factors within the human living experience in a given place. The existence of specific qualities of the triple dimensions within a living experience in influencing individual characteristics after passing through the perceptual and cognitive filter of a man, the concept of sense of place is forming. How longer the period of living experience in the place is, due to the deepening of social-cultural links and livelihood and biological affinities of people with various components of the place, more enhance in sense of place and cause dependency, belonging, and the deeper levels of sense of place. Also, the results of the analysis of Structural Equation Models show that the priority of influencing the sense of place is related to place linkage variables, environmental qualities, performance and activities, place identity and social linkage. The variables of the features of the functions and activities in the selected society, does not have a significant effect on the sense of place motivation. Further on this study, the factors that creating the place sense are explained. The research findings can be useful for rural architects, landscape designers, rural and urban planners and Specialist in environmental science to place creation.