Planning considerations for the implications of local government restructuring on the sense of place in a rural community

This thesis is an investigation of the phenomenon of sense of place and the effects of local government restructuring on the sense of place in a rural community in Ontario Canada, and the resulting implications for Planning and Research. The Study was conducted by interviewing a cross-section of community members whose local government was restructuring. The Semi-structured interviews explored the sense of place in the community, changes to the sense of place in the past and anticipated changes (if any) to the sense of place as a result of local government restructuring. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed and phrases were coded into emergent themes that were arranged into the categories of built, biophysical and social settings. Community members were able to articulate what the sense of place was in their community, relay past changes and how they affected the sense of place in their community and anticipate how the sense of place may be influenced by the current local government restructuring. Community members anticipated the status quo or positive or negative effects on the sense of place as a result of restructuring. Implications for planning were explored in terms of initiatives and possibilities for preserving or changing sense of place as well as recommendations for subsequent planning theory and practice.