Sense of home place in participatory post-disaster reconstruction
Abstract:
This paper investigates the participatory reconstruction approach as a means of home loss mitigation
strategy for coping with disaster among survivors of the 2003 Bam earthquake. It addresses the housing
issue using the sense of place measures to understand households' feelings about their lost and new
homes. On the basis of a fieldwork survey, the probability method of stratified sampling is applied to
select the target group of 186 households. Findings show a significant correlation between expressions of
positive feelings about new homes and the degree of participation in reconstruction. By encompassing
demographic characteristics with the above terms, the results have been interpreted to identify the deeper
aspects of home for those living in a newly built one that differs a lot from the lost one.