Enric Pol

Place Identification, Social Cohesion, and Enviornmental Sustainability

In the study reported in this article the roles of social cohesion, residential satisfaction, and place identification are examined for their effect on place-related social identity and its consequential impact on attitudes to environmental sustainability. Two neighborhoods in Guildford, Surrey, England were selected on the basis of their social histories, housing types, and socioeconomic composition. Ninety residents in each neighborhood were sampled. Research methods included cognitive mapping and a questionnaire survey. A structural equation model was used to analyze the covariances between the different factors. The results show clear differences between the two neighborhoods in terms of residential satisfaction, with only some differences in terms of identification and social cohesion and sustainability. Conclusions are drawn that suggest an important relationship between identity and sustainability behavior that is suggestive for future research.

The Theoretical Background of the City-Identity-Sustainability Network

The City-Identity-Sustainability (CIS) Research Network aims to investigate the relationship between several conditions and processes that shape social identity—such as the quality of the urban area, residents’satisfaction, community identification, and sense of cohesion—and the relationship between these factors, taken as a whole, and sustainability. The objective of the project was to determine whether the presence of these factors favors sustainability and, likewise, whether the absence of some of the factors impedes sustainability. The CIS Network carried out its research in seven sites in Latin America and Europe, using the same questionnaire in each setting and complementing it with local qualitative research. The results showed a reasonable fit to the structural models of the hypothesized relationships. In light of the results, the research network suggests social and environmental intervention strategies to promote sustainability. This article focuses on the theoretical construction of the models.

Supuestos de cambio de actitud y conducta usados en las campañas de publicidad y los programas de promoción ambiental: El modelo de las 4 esferas

Resumen En este artículo se resume el seguimiento y evaluación de 66 programas y campañas publicitarias de promoción ambiental. De una primera revisión de las campañas y programas en función de una revisión teórica previa se extrajeron 10 supuestos primarios de estrategias de cambio de actitud y comportamiento que se aplicaron como criterio de análisis. Posteriormente estos 10 supuestos se recategorizaron en cuatro ámbitos estratégicos, que llamamos modelo de las 4 esferas, que se volvió a aplicar a la muestra estudiada. Los resultados muestran que con el tiempo se ha evolucionado desde supuestos basados casi exclusivamente en estrategias informativas orientadas a la dimensión cognitiva y de racionalidad de la persona, hacia estrategias más sofisticadas orientadas a la dimensión emocional de la persona. Destaca una baja utilización de estrategias centradas en la dimensión de la funcionalidad, connativa o de creación de escenarios u oportunidades de comportamiento, así como un bajo recurso a los mecanismos de influencia social.

Environmental management, new challenge for a psychology of sustainable development

Environmental management, new challenge for a psychology of sustainable development. Any industrial project, urban development or service provision leads to changes in its setting - an environmental impact that can extend well beyond the immediate site. These changes can be managed positively, in an attempt to mitigate this impact, or they can be ignored allowing the transformed environment (in its physical and social aspects) to continue along its path of change, often in an increasingly rapid process of degradation. Environmental management is today understood to include preventive and palliative actions aimed at minimizing the environmental impact of human activity. Environmental management is above all concerned with management of human behavior both within and outside organizations. The question that should be posed therefore is whether Environmental Psychology has sufficient experience – or whether is willing to develop it – to face the challenge and take on the responsibilities of being present within environmental management. This paper examines some new propositions in the field.

A Critical Study of Theoretical Models of Sustainability through Structural Equation Systems

This article presents the results of a comparative analysis of three models: the identification model (IM), the cohesion model (CM), and the general model (GM) proposed by the City-Identity-Sustainability (CIS) Network. These models have been designed for the description of sustainability and all try to explain its relationship with identity and urban development using structural equations. The analyzed items were selected from a longer questionnaire as part of the general CIS Network study. Ten samples from different origins were obtained, with a total of 1, 421 participants. To test the models to the concept of sustainability, the parameters are presented in a comparative way. The indicators show a moderate fit. The IM presents a better fit in samples with high levels of urban development, whereas the CM shows a better fit in samples with less developed areas. The best general fit is in the GM model for all the samples.

City-Identity-Sustainability research network: Final words

The most significant results of the different studies carried out in the City-Identity-Sustainability research network and published in this special issue are discussed and evaluated. A general structural model was proposed to analyze the existence of a relationship between social identity and propensity to sustainability in the urban life context, in various settings of Latin America and Europe. Propensity to sustainability was valued and the adjustment to two theoretical models (identification and cohesion) was observed in each setting through the structural equation system. Results confirm that there is a relationship between the degree of social identity and propensity to sustainability. Place identity and social cohesion are variables that influence this relationship in a differential way and vary in accordance to the physical quality of the space and the social status of the setting. Thus, the study provides some management guidelines to advance toward sustainability.

Identity, Quality of Life, and Sustainability in an Urban Suburb of Barcelona Adjustment to the City-Identity-Sustainability Network Structural Model

This article presents a summary of a descriptive analysis of a town in the suburban area of Barcelona and the adjustment of the data compiled to the City-Identity-Sustainability (CIS) structural models. The analysis was conducted in a reduced sample of a wider study and aimed to identify and analyze potential social effects of the plans for the town’s urban growth. In addition to the CIS questionnaire, ethnographic, qualitative, and quantitative studies were also carried out to collect complementary information; these are not reported here. The results show high levels of satisfaction and perceived quality of life that are independent of the objective life conditions. The adjustment to the CIS structural models shows that identity correlates with propensity to sustainability. The results are related to the emergence of a positive social identity that fits the social cohesion model in poor and standard areas, whereas the well-structured urban areas present a good fit with the identification model.

As crenças ambientais de trabalhadores provenientes de empresa certificada por SGA podem predizer comportamentos pró-ambientais fora da empresa?

The implementation and utilization of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) requires new approach for the companies, and an environmental change, even in their workers routine, environmental beliefs and in their environmental behaviors outside the company. This paper aims to analyze the differences between the environmental beliefs, considering the dichotomy anthropocentrism x ecocentrism structure in three groups of Brazilian workers: from companies certified by an EMS (n = 232), non certified (n = 153) and non certified with environmental policy (n = 169). At the same time, we verified the potential of prediction of the environmental beliefs over the environmental behaviors. The results points out that the workers from companies non certified and non certified with environmental policy mostly presented high level of anthropocentric beliefs. Furthermore, being an EMS worker and presenting ecocentric beliefs can explain some of environmental behavior factor.

Las representaciones sociales del medio ambiente: el papel de la fotografía

Resumen Este estudio se centra en el papel de la fotografía en la construcción de la representación social (RS) del medio ambiente. En este trabajo se presentan los resultados del análisis de las referencias fotográficas utilizadas para ilustrar y/o acompañar tales noticias. Se analizó una muestra de 266 fotografías procedentes de dos diarios: La Vanguardia y El País en su edición barcelonesa. El período de estudio comprendió desde el año 1992 hasta el 2002. El procedimiento consistió en categorizar los diferentes temas contenidos en las fotografías. Para su categorización no se partió de un sistema de categorías establecido a priori, sino que éste se fue construyendo a partir de la información proporcionada por el propio material analizado. Se obtuvieron cuatro categorías principales: actores sociales, paisajes, afectación del medio ambiente y acciones sociales. Destaca una presencia mayoritaria de figuras políticas que puede reflejar el uso (y abuso) interesado de la prensa de algunas fuentes informativas y/o la hegemonía de una fuente por encima de las otras. Por otra parte, es de resaltar la alta presencia de fotografías de escenarios urbanos. Ello puede estar indicando un cambio en la representación social del medio ambiente, históricamente referido al paisaje natural y reflejo de la asociación tradicional entre naturaleza y conservacionismo. Las pruebas estadísticas realizadas muestran la existencia de diferencias significativas en cuanto al tipo de tema contenido en las fotografías a lo largo del período analizado.

Introduction to the City-Identity-Sustainability Research Network

This issue presents the results of an international research project centered on the relationships between the city, identity, and sustainability. The aim was to determine the extent to which the shape of the city—today the predominant human habitat—facilitates or complicates sustainable behaviors; the extent to which urban characteristics act as generating features of symbolism shared by the residents and help actively to construct a place identity in an individual and social sense; the extent to which social identity is the expression of the existence of formal and informal networks of mutual support that facilitate social cohesion or is the result of a process of categorical identification (in terms of Turner, 1987); and finally, whether the construct that we call identity is significantly associated with a propensity to sustainability. Via our study of these hypothetical relationships we make suggestions for the design of strategies to advance the new, positive social value of sustainability. The project was set up in 1996, proposed by the environmental psychology group at the University of Barcelona as part of the master’s degree program Environmental Intervention: People, Society and Management. Three groups in Latin America, North America, and northern Europe were invited to participate. The number of members grew quickly, reaching a total of 12 research teams. Finally, 6 teams finished their research work in 11 different places, and 3 more teams are still working on their local studies. Each local team sought its own funding, as there was no formal institutional or structural support for the general project. The City-Identity-Sustainability (CIS) Research Network is an example of the possibilities that the Internet offers to develop low-cost international projects. Four network meetings were carried out at congresses on environment and behavior studies in Europe and America. The research groups that participated in this special issue are the Psychology Institute of the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, Esther