Understanding place attachment to remote environments: An Antarctic case study

The Anthropocene presents unique challenges for humanity’s relationship with remote environments. Transboundary environmental problems, such as climate change or plastics pollution, affect places that are beyond most people’s direct experience. Mobilising public support on these issues requires people to care about their impact on places they may never visit. While place attachment theory can help us to understand someone’s concern for a particular place, research usually focuses on the perspectives of people who have direct physical experience of that place. Broadening place scholarship to include attachment formed without immediate experience gives insight into the bonds between people and remote environments. To investigate this idea of “remote” attachment, we focus on a remote and endangered place, Antarctica, in relation to the southerly port city of Hobart, Australia. We conducted in-depth interviews (n = 37) with residents—15 of whom had visited Antarctica—to explore and compare their Antarctic place attachment. We found evidence of remote attachment constrained by several factors including local social dynamics that positioned non-visitors as Antarctic outsiders. We conclude that future engagement strategies should aim to bridge the social divide between community members who have and have not visited such places. Our findings inform place attachment scholarship in a range of settings, including remote national parks, the deep sea, and outer space.