Topophilia

Topophilia lies at the intersection of geography and environmental psychology, describing the human emotional experience of the physical environment, including sensory perceptions, attitudes toward nature, and valuations of specific components or composites of the landscape. Topophilia generally implies an affection for specific places, but the term involves a spectrum of responses that may include disaffecting experiences for disliked or less preferred locations. Hence, since its original expression by the geographer Yi-Fu Tuan in the mid 1970s, the meaning of topophilia has evolved, and additional related terminologies have emerged. For example, the term topophobia has been used to describe the fear of specific geographical features. Furthermore, it is difficult to disentangle topophilia and topophobia—which are often associated with the nonliving components of nature—from the human emotional ...