Giving places meaning

Since its inception, the Journal of Environmental Psychology has demonstrated its pre-eminence through publishing original, innovative papers. By bringing them together in one volume, ready access has been provided to the first-hand accounts of a range of explorations that are central to the growth and development of environmental psychology itself. There is now an agreement amongst most environmental psychology researchers that particular locations within the environment do harbour rich significance for individuals and groups. There is a great deal of productive debate about the cognitive and affective processes that give rise to this significance, but it is clear that the significance of places can include both deep emotional attachment and more abstract aesthetic enjoyment. Psychologists have been rather reluctant to examine the content of personal meanings, except in the intensity of the therapeutic interview, leaving such explorations to literary critics. The present volume goes some way to redress that balance and show the value of tackling meaning head on, rather than through the lens of structure and form. This volume will therefore be of value beyond environmental psychology in showing the value of studying meanings in context and the ways in which they give our world significance.