ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Environmental Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicUrban Nature and its Benefits for Human HealthView all 10 articles
Climate Change Perception and Pro-Environmental Behavior Among Urban Park Visitors: The Mediating Role of Place Attachment
Provisionally accepted
- 1Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 2Kyung Hee University - Global Campus, Yongin-si, Republic of Korea
- 3Seoul National University, Gwanak-gu, Republic of Korea
- 4Mississippi State University, Mississippi State University, United States
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Objectives: This study investigates how climate change perception influences pro-environmental behavior — on-site (park-specific) and off-site (daily life) — behavior among urban park visitors, focusing on the mediating role of place attachment (place identity, place dependence, and social bonding). Methods: A survey was conducted with 351 adults engaging in walking and running at Namsan Park in Seoul. Measures included perception of climate changeclimate change perception, place attachment, and both on-site (park-specific) and off-site (daily life) pro-environmental behaviors. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping were used for analysis. Results: Climate change perception significantly predicted all three dimensions of place attachment. Place identity and social bonding mediated the relationship between climate change perception and both types of pro-environmental behavior. Place dependence was significantly associated with on-site, but not off-site, pro-environmental behavior. Conclusions: Place attachment serves as a key mechanism linking climate concern to sustainable actions in leisure settings. Strengthening emotional and social bonds to urban parks may enhance both localized and general pro-environmental behaviors, offering practical implications for urban sustainability strategies.
Keywords: Climate Change, place attachment, Nature-based recreation, park, pro-environmental behavior
Received: 14 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yoon, Joo, Lim, Kim and Lee. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chang Mi Lee
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