N4L 120: "This Is Where You Belong" by Melody Warnick

SUMMARY

Melody Warnick's debut book, This Is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are, chronicles her experience navigating a cross-country move while also providing the rest of us a practical guide for loving the place we live—wherever that may be. With humor, candor, and loads of data, Warnick takes us through her personal exploration of the fairly new social concept of place attachment. Wanting to feel more connected to her new hometown of Blacksburg, Virginia, she fashions a social experiment, which she dubs “Love Where You Live." After creating a list of ten behaviors of place-attached people, she dives headlong into doing the very same things to see if she can make herself fall in love with where she lives. In the end she discovers how much relationships matter to be able to say, "This is where you belong!" 

KEY POINTS

Americans have a certain degree of restlessness, with 12 percent moving every year. They’re plagued with a fear of missing out. Apps and surveys about best places to live can confirm people’s choice to land in the “right place.” People tend to be either “Movers” or “Stayers.” When things don’t work out well, Movers are inclined to believe changing location will solve their problems. “Place attachment” – the emotional bond people develop with the place they live “Placemaking” – things people do in a community to make it better (DIY citizenship); usually done from the ground up (grass roots); on the rise “Place satisfaction” – never wanting to leave a place; feeling a place really works for you Examples of placemaking include sharing a Little Free Library, preserving green spaces, painting murals, repurposing abandoned buildings, etc. Walking is one of the most fundamental activities that makes us feel at home in a community. It forces you to slow down, notice things, and talk to people. “Windshield perspective” – found in people who are always driven places rather than walking the streets of their neighborhood Showing up for town events creates success and makes a town thrive.

QUOTES FROM WARNICK

“Places really are a little like people. They have different personalities. So, finding the right people feels a little like finding your tribe, finding the right friend group.” “Every time you move is kind of traumatic. You feel really lost and lonely and alone for a while.” “Two-thirds of college-educated Millennials say they’d pick the city where they want to live first, then find the job to get them there.” “No matter where you live, you have a hand in creating the kind of place you want to live in.” “Every town has something it’s good at. But we may have to shift our mindset about social offerings.” “Even in the Great Recession, the happier residents were with their town, the more the town prospered economically.” “’Falling in love with your town’ is a set of strategies that you can use wherever you live…even if you lived in a place a million years already.”

BUY This Is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are

RECOMMENDATIONS

Warnick writes for livability.com, which often features “Top 10 Cities…” articles. The “CityData”website is now usa.com, which features forums by state and town. “The Soul of a Community” – a three-year study conducted by Gallup, Inc. that answers what makes people like where they live and that the town is providing for their needs. Determines the factors that attach residents to their communities and the role of community attachment in an area's economic growth and well-being. Insert your home address on the Walk Score website to get a sense of your town’s walkability. Civic Dinners is a website designed to help strangers get together for a meal and meaningful conversation to spark real and lasting change. ArtPlace America offers large grants for placemaking as do The National Association of Realtors, AARP, and many other organizations.

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