| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 952-968 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Society and Natural Resources |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published (VoR) - 2010 |
Funding
This article was supported by the EPSRC, the Centre for Environmental Strategy (University of Surrey), and Forest Research. Data were collected as part of the EU project RECOAL (INCO-WBC-1-509173). This article extends work presented at the British Sociological Association Annual Conference ‘‘Social Connections: Identities, Technologies, Relationships’’ at the University of East London, London, United Kingdom. Thanks to Andy Moffat for his supporting comments to earlier versions of this article. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their contributions to the article quality. First, the article reviews some of the issues currently being discussed in the place-and-identity literature that directly relate to degraded environments. Second, the article presents a case study of coal ash pollution in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The case study is presented within the framework of a research consortium (RECOAL), financially supported by the European Union, whose remit was to develop low-cost solutions for the remediation of the coal ash disposal sites in Tuzla. Third, two aspects of the relationship between identity and place within the case study are presented: the preservation of the ties to a place despite its ongoing degradation, and the emergence of identities associated with the pollution features of that place. The findings of this article are then assessed in terms of their relevance and applicability to environmental planning and management, and some general conclusions are drawn in the final section.
Keywords
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Coal ash
- Environmental pollution
- Identity
- Land restoration
- Place