Place Matters, But How? Rural identity, environmental decision-making and the social construction of place.

In recent years, the concept of place has received attention as an influential factor in both the development of the built environment and the creation of local identities. This paper draws on observation and interview data to examine the role of sense of place in the decisions of two neighboring California counties to address agricultural-environmental issues through collaborative processes rather than traditional regulation. Despite significant differences in their demographic and cultural characteristics, local elites in each county invoke "place" to contextualize their decisions through narratives emphasizing the importance of agriculture and the trustworthy nature of rural people. Our cases illuminate the process through which place is socially constructed, identifying comparison to other places and the existence of widely available meta-narratives as pathways through which it occurs. It also provides an important counter-example to scholarship and activism that assumes place is inherently compatible with local environmental and social concerns. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]