Influences of Sense of Place on Farming Households’ Relocation Willingness in Areas Threatened by Geological Disasters: Evidence from China

Abstract

Scholars from environmental psychology, geography, disaster science, and sociology have recently focused attention on evacuation and relocation behaviors and influencing factors in hazard-threatened areas. However, existing studies are mainly focused on developed countries and the influence of individual characteristics, household characteristics, and the perception of risk of urban households on evacuation and relocation behaviors. Few studies examine developing countries and the influence of farmers’ sense of place in geological hazard-threatened areas. Using statistics of farming households in an area threatened by landslides, this is a pilot study to explore the relationship of sense of place to the relocation willingness of farming households while controlling for other variables. The results show that: (1) Households with higher scores of place identity and place dependence are less willing to relocate, whereas place attachment has no significant relationship to household relocation willingness; (2) Risk perception dimensions, including probability, threat, and controllability have a significant relationship to household relocation willingness, while worry and fear of the unknown have no significant relationship; (3) Household characteristics, including income, whether a household has experienced economic loss from landslides, and social support are significantly correlated with household relocation willingness, while gender, age, experience, distance to hazard sites, size of household, children, older people, and housing material are not. The results for information and education are not robust. This study contributes to the current literature by improving the understanding of the relationship of sense of place to the relocation willingness of farming households in villages threatened by geological disasters in rural China.

Keywords

China / Farming households / Relocation willingness / Risk perception / Sense of place / Three Gorges Reservoir area

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