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Place, Activity and Human Development

15.0 hp
2025-09-01 - 2026-01-18
Location-independent
English
Application Code: SLU-M1312
Course Code: MP0001

This course instance is exclusively for incoming exchange students

You need to be nominated by one of SLU:s partner universities to apply for it. The course is also available as a standard course instance.

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Course description

Developing meaningful relationships with places, whether close to home or further away, is an important part of human flourishing. Places are not only physical settings where everyday life happens; they can also support well-being, belonging, identity, memory, and the development of personal and social capacities. In environmental psychology, such relationships are understood to support various well-being-related outcomes.

The course combines theories and empirical research from environmental psychology with lectures, practical workshops, discussions, and group and individual assignments. It examines how people develop relationships with themselves and their everyday environments, with particular attention to outdoor places and the functions they take on across different phases of life.

The central focus of the course is how outdoor environments, from gardens, yards, parks, and squares to wider community settings, contribute to everyday experience, well-being, identity, and meaning making. These relationships are explored through key concepts and theories in environmental psychology, such as: sense of place, restoration, self-efficacy, place attachment, place identity, and well-being-related outcomes. Through these perspectives, students examine how places can affect people in the moment, but also how repeated experiences in place may become connected to identity, memory, and personal narratives

The role of people’s relationships to place following changes in their physical environment, due to moving, redevelopment, natural disasters, is also addressed through the lenses of disruption in place attachment.

Specifications of assignments are given at course start. A selection of seminars and workshops and presentations of assignments are mandatory. The course combines mandatory online meetings with tasks carried out independently.

Entry Requirements

Knowledge equivalent to 120 credits and English 6

Course facts

Course name
Place, Activity and Human Development
Swedish course name
Plats, aktivitet och individens utveckling
Level
Second cycle (A1N)
Main field of study
Environmental Psychology
Credits
15.0 credits
Rate of study
50 %
Study location
Location-independent
Form of instruction
Distance learning without in-person meetings
Application code
SLU-M1312
Course code
MP0001
Course language
English
Offered as a freestanding course
Nej
Tuition fee
Tuition fees only for non-EU/EEA/Switzerland citizens
0 SEK

MP0001, Place, Activity and Human Development, 15.0 Hp
Print syllabus

Syllabus

Finalized by: PSR, 2024-11-14
Valid from : Autumn semester 2025 (2025-09-01)

Level

Second cycle (A1N)

Main field of study

Environmental Psychology

Grading Scale

The grade requirements within the course grading system are set out in specific criteria. These criteria must be available by the course start at the latest.

Course language

English

Entry Requirements

Knowledge equivalent to 120 credits and English 6

Objectives

The aim of the course is to give a psychological understanding of how people´s emotional bonds to specific places evolve during life, with particular focus on home and residential areas.
After completion of the course the student will be able to:

  • specify general characteristics of activities taking place in green settings and some psychological principles regulating this behaviour
  • give an overview of the general changes that occur in the way a person relates to the outdoor environment during the course of a lifetime
  • elaborate on how people develop emotional bonds to specific places and the role of home environment in the formation of identity
  • discuss the implications of people having bonds to places for planning and community development.

Content

The course combines the study of theories and empirical studies with lectures, practical workshops, discussions, group and individual assignments to investigate the following topics:

  • How people use different places in the outdoor environment and what functions they take on in everyday life. With a focus on opportunities for privacy and rest, as well as possibilities for movement and creative action; in gardens, yards, parks and squares. Important concepts are ”well-being”, “restoration” and “instoration”.
  • How places take on meaning. Attendees learn about how the meaning of place impacts us at the moment, and at certain cases develops into relationships with place that touch on identity and personal narratives.
  • The role of people’s relationships to place following changes in their physical environment , due to moving, redevelopment, natural disasters e t c.


Specifications of assignments are given at course start. A selection of seminars and workshops and presentations of assignments are mandatory.

The course combines mandatory online meetings with tasks carried out independently.

Examination Formats and Requirements for Passing the Course

Participation in a selection of workshops/seminars and successful completion of assignments. Passed exam.

Responsible Department/Equivalent

Department of People and Society

Supplementary information

Module set

Title Credits Code
Single module 15.0 0010
Meaning-Making of people-place experiences: situations, age, and place-disruption 7.5 0002

The Course Replaces

LK0280

Other Information

The course is given as a distance course, with mandatory online meetings, at 50% speed.

Course Literature - Place, Activity, and Human Development(MP0001)

The articles are presented in the order we recommend you read the papers:

**Module one – Understanding People-Place Relations: Key concepts and theories **

  • Scannell, L., & Gifford, R. (2013). The Psychology of Place Attachment. In R. Gifford (Ed.), Environmental Psychology: Principles and Practice (Fifth edition ed., pp. 272-295).Victoria: Optimal Books.
  • Seamon, D. (2013). Place attachment and phenomenology: The synergistic dynamism of place. In Place Attachment: Advances in Theory, Methods, and Applications (pp. 11-22): Taylor and Francis.
  • Scannell, L., & Gifford, R. (2010). Defining place attachment: A tripartite organizing framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(1), 1-10. doi:
  • Joye, J., & van den Berg, A. (2019). Restorative environments. In Steg, L. & de Groot, J.I.M. (eds). Environmental psychology: An introduction (2nd ed). Chichester: Wiley.
  • Bell, P. A., Greene, T., C., Fischer, J., & Baum, A. (2001). Personal space and territoriality Environmental psychology (pp. 252-332). Orlando: HarcourtCollage Publisher.
  • Uzzell, D., & Horne, N. (2006). The influence of biological sex, sexuality and gender role on interpersonal distance. The British journal of social psychology, 45(Pt 3), 579–597. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466605X5838
  • Roe, J., & McCay, L. (2021). Restorative Cities: Urban design for mental health and wellbeing. Bloomsbury Publishing.
    - Chapter 1: Introduction to restorative urbanism
    - Chapter 4: The sensory city
  • Kitchin, R. M. (1994). Cognitive maps: What are they and why study them? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 14(1), 1-19.doi:10.1016/S0272- 4944(05)80194-X


Module two – part A - Meaning-Making of people-place experiences

  • Cross, J. E. (2015). Processes of place attachment: An interactional framework. Symbolic interaction, 38(4), 493-520.
  • Judith Sixsmith (1986). The meaning of home: An exploratory study of environmental experience. , 6(4), 281–298. doi:10.1016/s0272-4944(86)80002-0
  • Lewicka, M. (2013). In search of roots: Memory as enabler of place attachment. In L. C. Manzo & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place Attachment: Advances in Theory, Methodsand Applications (pp. 49-60). London: Routledge.
  • Morgan, P. (2010). Towards a developmental theory of place attachment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(1), 11-22.
  • Carly M. Thornock, Larry J. Nelson, Chris L. Porter, Cortney A. Evans-Stout, There's no place like home: The associations between residential attributes and family functioning, Journal of Environmental Psychology,Volume 64, 2019, Pages 39-47, ISSN 0272-4944, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.04.011.
  • Roe, J., & McCay, L. (2021). Restorative Cities: Urban design for mental health and wellbeing. Bloomsbury Publishing.
    - Chapter 6: The active city
    - Chapter 8: the inclusive city
  • Raymond CM, Kyttä M, Stedman R. (2017) Sense of Place, Fast and Slow: The Potential Contributions of Affordance Theory to Sense of Place. Front Psychol. 2017 Sep 29;8:1674. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01674. PMID: 29033871; PMCID: PMC5627138.
  • Manzo, L. C., & Perkins, D. D. (2006). Finding common ground: The importance of place attachment to community participation and planning. Journal of planning literature, 20(4), 335-350.

Module II – part B - Disruption in place relations: place disruption, challenges and renegotiation of bonds

  • Devine‐Wright, P. (2009). Rethinking NIMBYism: The role of place attachment and place identity in explaining place‐protective action. Journal of community & applied social psychology, 19(6), 426-441.
  • Di Masso, A., Williams, D. R., Raymond, C. M., Buchecker, M., Degenhardt, B., Devine-Wright, P., ... & Von Wirth, T. (2019). Between fixities and flows: Navigating place attachments in an increasingly mobile world. Journal of environmental psychology, 61, 125-133.
  • Chawla, L. (2020). Childhood nature connection and constructive hope: A review of research on connecting with nature and coping with environmental loss. People and Nature, 2(3), 619-642. doi:
  • Manzo, L. C. (2013). Exploring the shadow side: Place attachment in the context of stigma, displacement, and social housing. In L. C. Manzo & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place Attachment: Advances in Theory, Methods and Applications (pp. 178-190): London:Routledge.
  • Nanninga, C. S., Meijering, L., Schönherr, M. C., Postema, K., & Lettinga, A. T. (2015). Place attachment in stroke rehabilitation: A transdisciplinary encounter between cultural geography, environmental psychology and rehabilitation medicine. Disability and Rehabilitation, 37(13), 1125- 1134. doi:10.3109/09638288.2014.955136
  • Thompson Fullilove, M. (2013). “The Frayed Knot”. What Happens to Place Attachment in the Context of Serial Forced Displacement? In L. C. Manzo & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.),Place Attachment: Advances in Theory, Methods and Applications (pp. 141-153). London: Routledge.
  • Brown, G., Raymond, C. M., & Corcoran, J. (2015). Mapping and measuring place attachment. Applied Geography, 57, 42-53.

Additional literature of interest

  • Adevi, A. A., & Mårtensson, F. (2013). Stress rehabilitation through garden therapy:The garden as a place in the recovery from stress. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 12, 230-237. doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2013.01.007
  • Jeffres, L. W., Bracken, C. C., Jian, G., & Casey, M. F. (2009). The impact of third places on community quality of life. Applied research in quality of life, 4(4), 333-345. Chicago
  • Albrecht, G., Sartore, C., Connor, L., Higginbotham, N., Freeman, S., Kelly, B., Pollard, G. (2007). Solastalgia: The distress caused by environmental change. Australasian Psychiatry, 3, 41-55.
  • Bartos, A. E. (2013). Children sensing place. Emotion, Space and Society, 9(1), 89-98. doi:10.1016/j.emospa.2013.02.008
  • Bengtsson, A. (2015). From Experiences of the outdoors to the design of healthcare environments. (Doctoral thesis). Swedish university for Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp. (2015:66). (Chapter 2.3-3.4).
  • Bonaiuto, M., & ALves, S. (2012). Residential places and neighborhoods: Towards healthylife, social integration and reputable residence. In S. D. Clayton (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of environmental and conservation psychology New York: Oxford.
  • Butler, A., Sarlöv-Herlin, I., Knez, I., Ångman, E., Ode Sang, Å., & Åkerskog, A. (2017) Landscape identity, before and after a forest fire. Landscape Research, 43(6), 878-889. doi:10.1080/01426397.2017.1344205
  • Carmona, M. (2019). Place value: place quality and its impact on health, social, economic and environmental outcomes. Journal of Urban Design, 24(1), 1–48.
  • Carrus, G., Scopelliti, M., Lafortezza, R., Colangelo, G., Ferrini, F., Salbitano, F., Agrimi, M., Portoghesi, L., Semenzato, P., & Sanesi, G. (2015). Go greener, feel better? The positive effects of biodiversity on the well-being of individuals visiting urban and periurban green areas. Landscape and Urban Planning, 134, 221–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.10.022
  • Cele, S. (2006). Communicating place: methods for understanding children's experience ofplace.
    (Doctoral thesis). Stockholm University, Stockholm.
  • Cele, S. (2019). Social, Material and Political Constructs of Arctic Childhoods, An Everyday Life Perspective. In K. Malone, M. Tesar, & S. Arndt (Eds.), Children: Global Posthumanist Perspectives and Materialist Theories (pp. 1-15). Singapore: Springer.
  • Chawla, L., Keena, K., Pevec, I., & Stanley, E. (2014). Green schoolyards as havens from stress and resources for resilience in childhood and adolescence. Health & Place,28, 1-13. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.03.001
  • Dandy, J., Horwitz, P., Campbell, R. S., Drake, D., & Leviston, Z. (2019). Leaving home: place attachment and decisions to move in the face of environmental change. Regional environmental change, 19(2), 615-620.
  • Dovey, K. (1985). Home and homelessness. In A. Alterman & C. M. Werner (Eds.), Home environments (pp. 33-64). New York: Plenum Press.
  • Forrest, R., & Kearns, A. (2001). Social Cohesion, Social Capital and the Neighbourhood. Urban Studies, 38, 2125-2143. doi:10.1080/00420980120087081
  • Giuliani, M. V. (2003). Theory of attachment and place attachment. In M. Bonnes, T. Lee, &M. Bonaiuto (Eds.), Psychological theories for environmental issues (pp. 137-170). Adelshot: Ashgate.
  • Gifford, Robert (2007). The consequences of living in high-rise buildings. ArchitecturalScience Review, 50(1), 2-17
  • Gustafson, P. E. R. (2001). Meanings of place: Everyday experience and theoretical conceptualizations Journal of Environmental Psychology, 21(1), 5-16. doi:
  • Hartig, T., Mang, M., & Evans, G. W. (1991). Restorative effects of natural environment experiences. Environment and Behavior, 23(1), 3–26.
  • Hartig, T., Korpela, K., Evans, G. W., & Gärling, T. (1997). A measure of restorative quality in environments. Scandinavian Housing & Planning Research, 14, 175–194.
  • Hartig, T., Kaiser, F. G., & Bowler, P. A. (1997). Further Development of a Measure of Perceived Environmental Restorativeness. http://www-hotel.uu.se/ibf/PUBL/Wp/Wp5.pdf
  • Hester, R. T. J. (2013). Do Not Detach! Instructions From and For Community Design. In L. C. Manzo & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place Attachment: Advances in Theory, Methods and Applications (pp. 191-206). London: Routledge.
  • Knez, I. (2006). Autobiographical memories for places. Memory, 14(3), 359-377. doi:10.1080/09658210500365698
  • Korpela, K., Kyttä, M., & Hartig, T. (2002). Restorative experience, self-regulation, andchildren's place preferences. Journal of environmental psychology, 22(4), 387-398.
  • Knöll, M., & Roe, J. J. (2017). Ten questions concerning a new adolescent healthurbanism. Building and Environment, 126, 496-506
  • Lewicka, M. (2013). Place inherited or place discovered? Agency and communion in people-place bonding. Estudios De Psicologia, 34(3), 261-274.
  • Mihaylov, N., & Perkins, D. D. (2013). Community Place Attachment and its Role in Social Capital Development. In L. C. Manzo & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place Attachment:Advances in Theory, Methods and Applications (pp. 61-74). London: Routledge.
  • Lewicka, M. (2010). What makes neighborhood different from home and city? Effects of place scale on place attachment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(1),35-51. doi:
  • Lewicka, M. (2011). Place attachment: How far have we come in the last 40 years? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 31, 207-230. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.10.001
  • Manzo, L. C., Kleit, R. G., & Couch, D. (2008). "Moving three times is like having your house on fire once": The experience of place and impending displacement among public housing residents.Urban Studies, 45(9), 1855-1878. doi:10.1177/0042098008093381
  • Manzo, L. C. (2014). On uncertain ground: being at home in the context of public housing redevelopment. International Journal of Housing Policy. doi:10.1080/14616718.2014.947125
  • Marcheschi, E., Laike, T., Brunt, D., Hansson, L., & Johansson, M. (2015). Quality of lifeand place attachment among people with severe mental illness. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 41, 135-154. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.12.003
  • Panksepp, J., & Watt, D. (2011). What is basic about basic emotions? Lasting lessonsfrom affective neuroscience. Emotion Review, 3(4), 387-396. doi:10.1177/1754073911410741
  • Perkins, D. D., & Long, A. D. (2002). Neighborhood sense of community and social capital: A multi-level analysis. In A. Fisher, C. Sonn, & B. Bishop (Eds.), Psychological sense of community: Research, applications, and implications(pp. 291-318). New York: Plenum.
  • Raymond, C. M., Stedman, R., & Frantzeskaki, N. (2023). The role of nature-based solutions and senses of place in enabling just city transitions. Environmental Science & Policy, 144, 10-19.
  • Ratcliffe, E., Gatersleben, B., & Sowden, P. T. (2013). Bird sounds and their contributions to perceived attention restoration and stress recovery. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 36, 221–228
  • Relph, E. (1976). Place and placelessness. Lewiston New York: Pion.
  • Rosenbaum, M. S., Ward, J., Walker, B. A., & Ostrom, A. L. (2007). A cup of coffee with adash of love: An investigation of commercial social support and third-place attachment. Journal of Service research, 10(1), 43-59. Chicago
  • Scannell, L., & Gifford, R. (2014). Comparing the theories of interpersonal and place attachment. In Place attachment: advances in theory, methods and applications (pp.23-26).
  • Twigger-Ross, C., Bonaiuto, M., & Breakwell, G. (2003). Identity theories and environmental psychology. In M. Bonnes, T. Lee, & M. Bonaiuto (Eds.), Psychological theories for environmental issues (pp. 203-233). Aldershot: Ashgate.
  • von Essen, E. & Mårtensson, F. (2017). Young adults' use of emotional food memoriesto build resilience. Appetite, 112, 210-218. doi:
  • Wells, N. M., & Lekies, K. S. (2006). Nature and the Life Course: Pathways from ChildhoodNature Experiences to AdultEnvironmentalism. Children, Youth and Environments,16(1), 1-24.
  • Whitlock, J. (2007). The role of asults, public space, and power in adolescent community connectedness. Journal of Community Psychology, 35(4), 499-518.doi:10.1002/jcop.20161
  • Wildish, B., Kearns, R., & Collins, D. (2016). At home away from home: visitor accommodation and place attachment. Annals of Leisure Research, 19(1), 117-133. doi:10.1080/11745398.2015.1037324
  • Winnicott, D. W. (1953). Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena—A Studyof the First Not-Me Possession. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 34, 89-97.
  • Wood, L., & Giles-Corti, B. (2008). Is there a place for social capital in the psychologyof health and place? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 28, 154-163. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2007.11.00

academic year 2025/2026

Place, Activity and Human Development (MP0001-10312)
2026-01-11 - 2026-02-01

academic year 2024/2025

Place, Activity and Human Development (MP0001-10012)
2025-01-12 - 2025-02-02

academic year 2023/2024

Place, Activity and Human Development (MP0001-10215)
2024-01-07 - 2024-01-28

academic year 2022/2023

Place, Activity and Human Development (MP0001-10014)
2023-01-08 - 2023-01-29

academic year 2021/2022

Place, Activity and Human Development (MP0001-10290)
2022-01-09 - 2022-01-30

academic year 2020/2021

Place, Activity and Human Development (MP0001-10183)
2021-01-10 - 2021-01-31