Suchergebnisse

The ambivalence of attitudes toward urban green areas is investigated through a cross-sectional survey carried out in the city of Rome ( N = 500). First, the dimensional structure, and then the personal tendency to hold ambivalent attitudes were analyzed in relation to: (a) broader human values and environmental worldviews (such as biospheric value orientations, ecocentrism vs. anthropocentrism) and (b) specific daily residential experience about urban green areas (perceived quality of neighborhood green areas and self-reported frequency of use of green areas). Results show two separate dimensions (moderately correlated) for attitudes toward urban green areas. The two dimensions are interpreted as measuring appreciation and devaluation of the presence of nature in the city, respectively. They showed different patterns of correlations with the other social-psychological factors considered. Moreover, people with more anthropocentric and apathic worldviews and with egoistic values manifested higher degrees of ambivalence in attitudes toward urban green areas, whereas a less straightforward relationship was found with daily residential experience. The implications of these results for the understanding of people's relationship with urban green areas are discussed.

Two field studies examined the relations between environmental concern, regional identity, and support for the institution of natural protected areas. Multiple regression (Study 1, N = 316) and structural equation modeling (Study 2, N = 157) were performed to assess the role of general and specific proenvironmental attitudes and regional identity in predicting participants' support for two new protected areas in Italy. As expected, results show the positive role of general and specific proenvironmental attitudes, as well as the positive role of regional identity, in predicting support for the protected areas considered. Implications of the results for the enhancement of public levels of consensus in the designation and management of natural protected areas are discussed.

Urban Diversities - Environmental and Social Issues -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- Environmental and Social Diversities in the City -- Diversity in Theoretical and Methodological Approaches -- Analysing Urban Diversity -- Regarding the Question of Evidence -- Time, Market Pressures, and Urban Regeneration -- Regulating Augmented Public Spaces -- Diversity in Urban Landscapes and Perceptual Approaches -- Visual Information in the Built Environment and its Effect on Wayfinding and Explorative Behaviour -- Perceptual Constancy Between Users from Different Countries in Commercial and Historic Streetscapes -- The Influence of Environmental Attributes on Social Interaction Between Different Socioeconomic Groups -- A Description of Incongruous Architectures and Related Observations -- Diversity in Urban Green Spacesand Well-Being -- Green Areas and Housing's Habitability -- Green Spaces, Vegetation, and Well-Being in the Housing Environment -- Soundscapes Within Urban Parks -- Are ''Attractive'' Built Placesas Restorative and Emotionally Positiveas Natural Places in the Urban Environment? -- Diversity in Lifestyles andUrban Sustainability -- A Room with a View -- Consumption and Electric Powerat Home -- Collective Motivation for Managing Our Common Environment -- The Ecological Concern in Consumer's Choices of Organic and Genetically Modified Food Products -- Diversity in Social Groups and Inclusive Urban Environments -- Children in the Neighbourhood -- Fencing in the Bay? Place Attachment, Social Representations of Energy Technologies, and the Protection of Restorative Environments -- From Divided Space to Shared Space -- Authors -- Index.

Previous research highlighted that the desire for neighborhood improvement is an antecedent of the citizens' involvement in green urban areas maintenance. Nevertheless, the topic of civic participation in the maintenance of green areas is not yet well developed in the literature and a link with local legislation is missing. We investigate the intention of participation in such maintenance through a web-based experiment. We hypothesize that stimuli of poor (vs. good) maintenance will be associated with a higher intention of contributing to the upkeep of green areas following the administrative barter law. The administrative barter is a law approved in Italy, which gives citizens the possibility of a reduction of local taxes in exchange for their involvement in the improvement of the territory. One hundred ninety-six participants (M(age) = 33.81) were assigned randomly to good maintenance condition (n = 100) or poor maintenance condition (n = 96). The level of maintenance was manipulated through photographs of a neighborhood depicting good or poor maintenance of the urban green ornamentation. Results pointed out that people showed a greater willingness to engage in the improvement of green urban areas in the poor condition as compared to the good condition, according to the administrative barter law. This study suggests that local legislation may provide an incentive fostering citizens' involvement in green urban areas maintenance.

AbstractThe overarching aim of the present research is to investigate whether and how HEXACO personality traits relate to climate change action, pro‐environmental behavior, and moral anger. A sample of 268 community participants provided responses for measures of the HEXACO model, moral anger, intention to engage in climate change action, and pro‐environmental behavior. Hierarchical tests indicated that (1) Openness to Experience outperformed the other HEXACO personality traits in predicting climate change action, whereas (2) both Openness to Experience and Honesty–Humility outperformed the other HEXACO personality traits in predicting pro‐environmental behavior, controlling for participants' gender, age, education, and employment status. Specifically, mediation analyses showed that (3) Openness to Experience was related to climate change action both directly and indirectly via moral anger. Furthermore, (4) Openness to Experience and Honesty–Humility were independently related to pro‐environmental behavior both directly and indirectly via moral anger.

Abstract. Little is known about epistemic motivations affecting political ideology when people make environmental decisions. In two studies, we examined the key role that political ideology played in the relationship between need for cognitive closure (NCC) and self-reported eco-friendly behavior. Study 1: 279 participants completed the NCC, pro-environmental, and political ideology measures. Mediation analyses showed that NCC was related to less pro-environmental behavior through more right-wing political ideology. Study 2: We replicated these results with a nonstudent sample (n = 240) and both social and economic conservatism as mediators. The results of Study 2 showed that social conservatism mediated the relationship between NCC and pro-environmental behavior. Finally, NCC was associated with pro-environmental attitude through both social and economic conservatism.

In recent years, mindfulness has been considered as a potential source of proenvironmental attitudes and behavior. Present research is aimed at consolidating and expanding previous knowledge by proposing that mindfulness is related to both proenvironmental behavior and belief in global climate change through social dominance orientation (SDO). A first study was conducted on undergraduate students ( n = 279) and found, as expected, that trait mindfulness was related to proenvironmental behavior through SDO. A second study using a known groups approach compared practitioners ( n = 44) and nonpractitioners ( n = 53) of Buddhist meditation, which is known to develop a mindful stance. Moreover, in Study 2, a measure of belief in global climate change was adopted as a further outcome. Again, trait mindfulness was related to both proenvironmental outcomes through SDO. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

It is thought that a dichotomy exists between two apparently contradictory belief systems: the so-called "Human Exception Paradigm" (HEP)—an anthropocentric belief system—and the "New Environmental Paradigm" (NEP), of ecocentric nature. The aim of this article was to test the presence of an integrative, nondichotomic, New Human Interdependence Paradigm (NHIP) and its influence on water conservation practices. The NHIP envisages interdependence between human progress and nature conservation and conceives it as a dynamic process of integration and incorporation of human needs into natural processes. Seven hundred and fifty-nine individuals living in cities of France, Italy, Mexico, and India responded to items of a purposively developed measuring instrument (the NHIP scale), as well to items of the HEP-NEP scale. They also self-reported the frequency of water conservation actions at their households. The NHIP coherently emerged from its observed indicators and it was a slightly better predictor of water conservation than the HEP-NEP scale.

Understanding the diversifying role of civil society in Europe's sustainability pathway is a valid proposition both scientifically and socially. Civil society organisations already play a significant role in the reality of cities, what remains to be explored is the question: what is the role of civil society in the future sustainability of European cities? We first examine the novelty of new forms of civil society organization based on a thorough review of recent case studies of civil society initiatives for sustainable transitions across a diversity of European projects and an extensive literature review. We conceptualize a series of roles that civil society plays and the tensions they entail. We argue that, civil society initiatives can pioneer new social relations and practices therefore be an integral part of urban transformations and can fill the void left by a retreating welfare state, thereby safeguarding and servicing social needs but also backing up such a rolling back of the welfare state. It can act as a hidden innovator—contributing to sustainability but remaining disconnected from the wider society. Assuming each of these roles can have unintended effects, such as being proliferated by political agendas, which endanger its role and social mission, and can be peeled off to serve political agendas resulting in its disempowerment and over-exposure. We conclude with a series of implications for future research on the roles of civil society in urban sustainability transitions.

[Abstract] A participatory backcasting methodology has been developed for the GLAMURS project, entitled participatory backcasting for sustainable lifestyles and a green economy. It consists of two stakeholder workshops; a first workshop for problem exploration and development of visions for sustainable lifestyle and a green economy followed by a second workshop focussing on pathways and implementation.In six regions studied in the GLAMURS project vision workshops have been successfully executed. Thirteen visions have been generated. Visions have been compared on several dimensions including (1) sufficiency versus green growth, (2) individual versus community orientation, (3) governance by government or market, and (4) urban versus rural focus. ; The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement Nº 613420