Territorial Aspects of Regional Identity and Respondents’ Identification with the Region and Place: Case Study of Slovakia¹

The purpose of the study is to focus on the understanding of sense of place through the conceptualisation of regional identity. The theory of institutionalisation of regions, by geographers Chojnicki and Paasi, gives us a useful framework for understanding how regions and regional identity emerge, continually reproduce and, thus, transform in and through the practice of individuals and institutions at a variety of spatial levels. The submitted paper creates a compact mosaic of the selected theoretical approaches and chosen concepts of new regional, cultural and behavioural geography, which can be used in regional identity researches. The central purpose of the paper is to enrich and explain the possibilities of utilisation of behavioural techniques in the formation of regional identity and the identity of the area. The aim of the study is to identify the level of respondents’ patriotism towards the selected hierarchical and residential regions of Slovakia.