What are the Spatial Determinants that Influence the Level of Place Identity? A Geographically Weighted Regression Approach

In response to urban problems of modern-day cities, urban regeneration has been widely accepted as a major strategy to improve deprived areas. Yet, previous studies rarely examined how people perceive these improvements, despite its importance in sustainable placemaking. The main objective of this study is to explore how the level of place identity varies with changes in the built environment during urban regeneration. We thus develop an index, Place Identity Intensity (PII), to quantify the strength of people’s identification of place based on frequencies of cooccurring information in user-generated contents. Then, we use a local regression approach to reveal the spatial determinants of PII, evaluating a region that contains three regeneration sites in central Seoul as our study site. The results show that geographically weighted regression (GWR) best explains the effects of regeneration features on PII. Consequently, we contradict the criticisms of the redevelopment approach and find that new constructions may reinforce place identity. Furthermore, we describe counterintuitive strategies to attract new businesses that can lead to stronger place identity in regeneration sites. Our results therefore provide insights into place identity-oriented strategies for regeneration projects to guide future planning and design.