Spatial discounting, place attachment, and environmental concern: Toward an ambit-based theory of sense of place

Sense of Place (SOP) theory can connect environmental discourse across disciplines, provided it is supported by an adequate suite of conceptual tools. Sense of place encompasses both objectivist notions of spatial discounting, generally advanced by economists and geographers, and the subjectivist, phenomenological and psychometric aspects of place attachment emphasized by environmental psychologists. This paper introduces ambit as an integrative tool for developing theories about sense of place that include both subjective and objective aspects of human activity. Signifying the spatial extent of activity over time, the human ambit anchors spatial dimensions of environmental concern to alternative theories about sense of place. We conceptualize ambit as the focal level of a tri-level hierarchy stratifying mechanisms, behavior, and reflexivity associated with place. After developing the observable ambit as integral to a hierarchical theory of place-based behavior, we explore its use in providing a more empirical understanding of human behavior in space–time. •Situates sense of place in the context of hierarchy theory.•Develops the concept of an ambit to signify the spatial extent of human activity over time.•Identifies the ambit as a proxy for sense of place that integrates subjective and objective aspects.•Demonstrates empirical approaches to measure time-weighted and trip-weighted centroids of human ambit.•Compares linear and non-linear models of environmental concern and associated spatial discount rates.