Local people's “sense of place” toward cultural heritage sites: correlation with demographic and socio-economic characteristics

PurposeThe paper aims at identifying the underlying factors that differentiate the local people's demographic and socio-economic characteristics, which influence their sense of place (SoP) toward different types of cultural heritage sites in different urban regions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on the sequential explanatory design, using quantitative and qualitative methods, respectively, to investigate the research themes in-depth. A total of 201, 207 and 228 questionnaires were collected on religious, non-religious/memorial and historic commercial buildings, respectively, at two different quarters in Historic Cairo, followed by 20 semi-structured interviews with a representative sample of local people in each quarter.FindingsThe authors found an apparent similarity in the significant characteristics that influence the local people's SoP levels toward the different historic buildings at the same quarter and a notable variation between both quarters. Also, many factors determine the local people's influential characteristics on their SoP toward the different cultural heritage sites (e.g. the sites’ distance from the person's residence/workplace, economic value, people's awareness about its history, type of activities and targeted gender, feeling of stability and regions' characteristics)Practical implicationsIdentifying these underlying factors and priority local groups can assist policymakers in ensuring a sustainable management/conservation of the different cultural heritage sites.Originality/valueThe paper demonstrates the causality of a significant correlation between local people's characteristics and their SoP levels toward the different types of historic buildings, apart from their religious symbolism or historical value, using the sequential explanatory design.