Habitat Dioramas and Sense of Place: Factors Linked to Visitors’ Feelings About the Natural Places Portrayed in Dioramas

Abstract

This research investigated ways habitat dioramas contribute to visitors’ development of Sense of Place. Visitors’ responses to dioramas at the Field Museum (Chicago) and Denver Museum of Nature and Science were studied using observations, interviews, and a Diorama Sense of Place survey instrument. Although observations revealed few conversations about the places depicted in the dioramas, other data revealed that dioramas inspired memories and connections to place. A complex set of factors contributed to visitors’ feelings of Place Bondedness. Visitors expressed the strongest connections to places that felt most familiar to them—even if they had not visited them previously.

Conclusions

This exploratory research set out to investigate the role of sense of place in visitors’ experiences at habitat dioramas. Data indicated that visitors to both DMNS and the Field Museum did express feelings of Place Bondedness for the dioramas in this study. These feelings varied across the range of dioramas and between the two museums.

A complex set of factors contributed to visitors’ feelings of Place Bondedness, and the effects of these factors varied depending on the place depicted at the diorama. Familiarity showed the strongest relationship to Place Bondedness, and this relationship held across the complete range of dioramas included in the study. On average, visitors expressed stronger feelings of Bondedness for places that felt more familiar to them, even if those places were, like the Grand Canyon and Amazon Rainforest, far from home and rarely, if ever, visited. This finding is encouraging because familiarity may be a factor where museums can contribute through a range of experiences (dioramas, programs) and, along with other media, help visitors become more familiar with a wide range of natural places which they may never visit.

When dioramas depicted places closer to home, visitation often (but not always) played a role in visitors’ expressions of Place Bondedness. On average, visitors expressed stronger feelings of Bondedness for places where they had first-hand experience, whether at the exact place depicted at the diorama or a similar place of which the diorama reminded them. While visitation may seem beyond the reach of what diorama halls can influence, this may not be the case. Respondents in our sample indicated that they imagined what it would be like to visit the place depicted in the diorama (average ratings were DMNS = 3.4 and Field = 3.6, using a 1–5 scale) and provided moderately strong ratings that the experience made them feel that they wanted to visit that place soon (average ratings were DMNS = 3.4 and Field = 3.2). Two factors that, at least in this study, seemed less important in developing sense of place were overall feelings of connectedness to nature and visitors’ feelings about the discomforts of outdoor experience.

Data analysis is continuing, and the next step will be to conduct statistical analyses that allow us to understand the complex interrelationship between multiple variables. Additionally, as this was a first attempt at adapting Sense of Place and related scales developed for outdoor experiences to diorama-based ones, we hope to further refine and validate the instrument. Current findings suggest, however, that Bondedness for the sorts of places depicted in habitat dioramas develops through interactions between several positively related factors, including (1) visits to a specific place depicted or similar places and (2) overall familiarity with the places portrayed in the dioramas. Furthermore, findings suggest a possible positive feedback loop among these factors. Results further suggest that visitors’ experiences with habitat dioramas contribute to all factors in this loop in that they can increase familiarity with a place, inspire a desire to visit it, and directly help visitors feel more connected to it.

Finally, among the most intriguing findings of this study for exhibit developers emerged, in the pilot phase, from the qualitative data. While interviews revealed that respondents remembered and expressed connections to a place, they did not often share these memories and feelings with others in their group while at the dioramas. It seemed that respondents needed inspiration to talk (or write) about their connections to the places depicted. Exhibit teams might consider finding ways to help visitors talk about their memories of places spurred by their diorama experience, whether they are memories of visits to the same geographic locations shown in the diorama or other place-related memories inspired by their experiences at that diorama.