The concept of place identity is a theoretical necessity for understanding the impact of the urban environment on the individual. Place identity refers to clusters of perceptions in the form of images, memories, facts, ideas, beliefs, values, and behavior tendencies relevant to the individual's existence in the physical world. These clusters are related to the development of self-identity, which is largely a product of socialization. Coping in an urban setting requires socialization in the physical world at any number of periods during the life cycle. The urban environment comprises diverse physical settings, and place identity associated with different settings provides norms and values that regulate behavior patterns in given milieus. Thus, the individual behaves and interacts in certain ways in settings that involve crowding, privacy, and territoriality. Place identity is both enduring and changing. Enduring family/household influences often determine what happens when the child becomes an adult, while the changing character of place identity, mainly due to technology and demographic patterns, may explain changes in self-identity. In urban environments, the place identity concept becomes significant in that place identity associated with inadequate home settings may be compensated for by place identity associated with the superior quality of school and neighborhood settings. (Author/MJL)