Limiting warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels requires a large-scale effort to promote sustainable behaviour. The surrounding environment has a determinant influence on human behaviour and can therefore become a strategic ally towards sustainability. Using a multi-method approach in two weekly markets in Hamburg, this paper analyses how different features of the public space -like accessibility -facilitate the implementation of strategies typically aimed at the promotion of environmental behaviour -like information. The analysis shows that the two settings enable the implementation of all the revised strategies, pointing out the relevance of the public space towards more sustainable cities. Physical access in terms of public transportation and free-barrier zones played a major role facilitating the implementation of all the revised strategies while symbolic access in the form of a sophisticated atmosphere suggested a barrier for low-income groups. Visual access and opportunities for socio-cultural exchange acted together: The environment influenced behaviour through social norms-based strategies via observing what others do, role model-based strategies via sellers and information-based strategies via the spread of different types of information. In the same way, it drove subconscious decision-making throughout salience and priming-based strategies in the form of an extensive usage of signage. Regarding opportunities for economic exchange, availabilitybased strategies in the form of products and services played a major role, in accordance with the commercial nature of the markets. Opportunities for sensory experiences were supported by a variety of elements that created full lived-in experiences like smells and live music, which in turn might enhance the desired effect. Concerning situational features, the analysis suggests that a linear arrangement of stands provides quicker and easier access to products compared with a grid form.
It is widely recognized that individual environmental behavior plays an important role in curving climate change but it remains unclear how it could be promoted. This paper studies the potential of the public space enabling action. We use an explanatory social mechanism approach to examine what distinctive features of the public space facilitate the implementation of different strategies aimed at overcoming internal and external factors or barriers hindering action and how they do it. A fictitious intervention serves as an example to explain the link between space and action. Our deep and finedgrained analysis points out that accessibility features of the public space and situational features facilitating its use are preconditions for the implementation of all the revised strategies. Visual accessibility facilitates the implementation of social norm-based interventions involving active participation, creating the conditions for other strategies to work, while physical accessibility represents an opportunity to implement availability-based interventions by providing quickly and easy access to the promoted products and services. Situational features refer to the physical characteristics of the space, influencing the nature and scope of the intervention by determining space and infrastructure constraints. Accessibility and possibilities for use lead to multiple forms of social exchange. All the reviewed strategies deal in one way or another with different forms of communication, positioning information as the strategy with the widest range of action. The public space also facilitates civic-based strategies aimed at increasing the participation of citizens on decision-making at administration level. Finally, priming and salience-based strategies can be used to create full lived-in experiences, reinforcing action through sensation and perception processes. The study shows the potentiality of the public space curving climate change towards more sustainable cities and societies through the implementation of a wide range of interventions aimed at making environmental behavior visible and accessible to all.
Local organizations can play a decisive role in implementing environmentally friendly collective practices in urban communities. Many initiatives fail, however. One possible way to reduce the number of failures is to develop understanding of cooperation processes to answer the question of why some coproduction initiatives involving relationships between local actors and external organizations are successful. We argue that answering this question requires a closer look at the sequence in which co-productive actions unfold. According to the behavioural assumptions underlying Ostrom's influential work on collective action, successful cooperation follows a pattern of bottom-up self-organization: in settings where interdependent stakeholders have the opportunity to communicate, reciprocal exchanges will eventually foster the development of trust, reciprocity, and reputation, which in turn provide the foundation for collective action. The present investigation examines to what degree this hypothetical sequence also holds for collective action among members in urban communities and what is the consequence for sustainability related coproduction processes. For that purpose, we draw on a multi-method comparative case study of the successful implementation of Water Collector Systems in three low-income neighborhoods in Mexico City in 2014. The findings suggest that rather than emerging spontaneously, community leaders, external stakeholders and past successful experiences with cooperation play a critical role in fostering present and future collective action. Moreover, there is no conclusive evidence that durable patterns of trust, reciprocity, and reputation emerged among community members at any stage of the process.
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