Tourists’ narrative engagement and the multidimensional construction of historic urban landscapes: exploring the role of narration in place attachment

This study explores how the tourists’ narration contributes to the construction of the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), with the forming of place attachment. Leveraging the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique, this study investigates tourists’ narration of Wuzhen, a historic town in China. The results reveal that tourists have a substantial influence on crafting a fresh narrative, actively contributing to the inclusive cultural landscape within the context of indigenous urbanisation in the HUL. Place attachment forms within this process, first with the cultivation of familiarity, then with the development of meaningful memories for city-dwelling tourists. These findings establish a correlation between tourist narration, place attachment, and the construction of the HUL. The study then highlights the creation of a multi-dimensional landscape representation due to diverse tourist narratives and underscores the previously undervalued role of narration as an essential element in the framework of place attachment.