A Study on Public Environmental Risk Perception and Environmental Behavior of Urban Space - A Case Study of the East District of Taichung City

Abstract

The contemporary living environment in Taiwan is affected by traffic, industry, and seasonal air pollution. Wearing masks outside the home environment has become a daily habit for a number of people. The Taiwanese government encourages people to wear masks when using the mass transit system and in public spaces, to impose social distancing, and prohibits large-scale activities to reduce exposure to environmental risks after the outbreak of COVID-19. By April 13th 2020, no new local cases of COVID-19 had been reported for more than 30 consecutive days. This study examines open and semi-open spaces using non-participatory observation method to understand public mask-wearing of environmental behavior. The results of the study show that the proportion of people wearing masks in open spaces is only 16.8%, and that the proportion of those wearing masks in semi-open spaces is 61.1%. This shows that the public continues to maintain a cautious attitude towards COVID-19 and that their perception of the environmental risks and environmental behavior differs across different spatial environments.