Subjective well-being in a left-behind region: exploring community characteristics and place attachment

Highly centralized urban development in Central and Eastern Europe often misinterprets local residents’ aspirations, culture, social ties, resources, and individual differences. We would argue that successful urban planning needs to integrate the connection between the city's physical and social context, as community cohesion and networks, or the sense of belonging, vary even within similar marginalized areas. This study therefore explores how person-related and city-related socio-economic factors and perceived community characteristics of the city are associated with the subjective well-being (SWB) of residents via the mediation of place attachment (PA) in two economically disadvantaged Hungarian cities situated in a left-behind region of Northern Hungary. Our results show that perceived community characteristics, person-related and city-related sociodemographic factors are associated differently with well-being in the two cities, even though they are within the same left-behind region. However, these associations are partially or entirely shaped via place attachment – in different ways, again, in two cities within the same left-behind region. The results highlight that investigating and understanding the distinct spatial and social contexts of local societies and residents’ perceptions of them in cities, even though they are located in the same region, is crucial for planners and decision-makers in the Central and Eastern European region.