Maricchiolo and colleagues locate belonging at the intersection of social identity, place attachment and wellbeing. In a sample of 375 participants, local social identity is associated with individual wellbeing and interdependent happiness through specific dimensions of place attachment: place identity and social relations operate as positive mediators, while lack of resources weakens individual wellbeing. The paper is conceptually important because it distinguishes identification with a local social group from attachment to the physical-social place while demonstrating that the two are dynamically linked. The neighbourhood becomes part of the self not merely through residence but through meaningful identification, shared relations and the capacity of place to provide resources. Its methodological contribution lies in mediation analysis, which makes visible the intermediate psychological processes connecting local “we-ness” to wellbeing. The wider implication is that belonging has spatial depth: social affiliation becomes more durable when it is anchored in place identity, and place becomes psychologically productive when it supports meaningful social relations.
URBANISM MEETS ART