Place attachment and post-disaster decision-making in a second home context: a conceptual framework

As a result of global climate change, natural disasters are becoming more common. However, to date, there has been almost no discussion on second homeowners and disasters, even though second homes are often found in areas that are more prone to natural hazards, i.e. mountainous and coastal regions. In order to develop suitable disaster planning, it is necessary to understand how the impacted individuals respond to disasters. To address this issue, this work presents a conceptual framework that emphasizes the importance of place attachment to the post-disaster decision-making process of second homeowners. Due to the absence of literature on this specific topic as well as on second homes and disasters in general, a comprehensive review of the literature from a variety of fields, including tourism, environmental psychology, housing studies, and disaster studies, has been utilized to develop this framework. The resulting framework highlights the centrality of place attachment in this process with its interactions with risk awareness and external factors resulting in three potential final decisions: relocate, return, or return and adapt. As second homeowners can be an integral part of the local and regional economy, an understanding of this process is essential to ensure they are adequately supported post-disaster.