"The Ocean is a Part of Me": The Importance of Coastal Place Attachment to Well-Being and Implications for Coastal Access Management

Public coastal access is a growing issue in coastal management, particularly as both environmental changes and increased coastal development threaten existing public coastal access points around the country. This has implications both economically and on non-economic factors such as individual and community well-being. Through a mixed-methods case study of coastal users in Rhode Island (n = 200 surveys and n = 29 interviews), this study explores the concept of attachment to coasts as a specific type of place attachment by identifying Coastal Place Attachment (CPA) as a concept, developing a quantitative index to measure CPA, and qualitatively describing the value that coastal attachment brings to well-being. Results show that individuals do have a unique attachment to coastal environments that is not transferable to other natural areas, although it may be generalizable to other coastal areas. We also document how this attachment provides important contributions to psychological, physical, and social well-being. Implications for coastal access management are discussed.