Ecological Worldview among Urban Design Professionals

Marita Wallhagen,Peter Magnusson

doi:10.3390/su9040498

Abstract

The built environment is responsible for a large proportion of the global use of energy, natural resources, and emissions. Architects and other urban design professionals are key actors in the building process whose behavior and decisions will influence these impacts. Because environmental attitudes are linked to pro-environmental behavior, this study aims to measure environmental worldview among urban design professionals involved in the architectural competition ‘A New City Center for Kiruna’. The mean score registered for the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale was 3.68 (standard deviation 0.51) and there were no significant differences with regard to age (mean 41.3 years) or gender (64.7% males). The ecological worldview of the participants was similar to most other samples from diverse countries, but a lower score was reported in comparison to environmentalists. The score ranged from 2.53 to 4.67 which shows heterogeneity at an individual level. Thus, future efforts to improve environmental attitudes among urban design professionals are needed.

Highlights

The built environment, including buildings and infrastructure, affects the environment throughout its life cycle—from extraction of natural resources to construction, use, and demolition
The New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) questions were completed by 68 urban design professionals
All participants worked in Europe, mainly Sweden and neighboring countries, and the majority were male (64.7%)

Summary

Introduction

The built environment, including buildings and infrastructure, affects the environment throughout its life cycle—from extraction of natural resources to construction, use, and demolition. It constitutes a major part of the human use of energy and natural resources, and affects emissions to air, water, and land [1]. In China alone, two billion square meters of commercial buildings are constructed per year [3]. In combination with population growth, is predicted. Houses need to be planned, designed, and built for the six billion people expected to live in urban areas by 2045 [4]

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