Abstract
Social, environmental, and economic problems related to urban living have surpassed the agenda of policy and decision-makers as well as general public opinion in recent decades. To address urban and environmental issues, it is pivotal to examine how people think, feel, judge, and act with respect to sustainability. While some prominent theories exist and various attempts have been made to propose synthesized models, there are still gaps and discrepancies within the literature of environmental psychological theories. As such, the aim of this paper is to critically review the literature by focusing on a few of the most influential environmental, prosocial, and psychological behaviour theories, which include Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Norm Activation Theory (NAT), Value-Belief-Norm Theory (VBN), and the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP). The Scopus database has been searched systematically for the relevant studies. This paper concludes that an integrative approach to urban sustainability understanding and behaviour is needed. A framework is presented that consists of three layers of clustered components: (1) internal socio-psychological determinants, (2) personality traits, and (3) influencing external factors such as social, cultural, economic, and institutional factors. The model proposed in the study provides opportunities to further develop theoretical approaches and establish new measures of an Urban Sustainability Understanding and Behaviour assessment.
Highlights
This paper aims to conduct an exploratory and critical review of the literature on environmental, sustainability, and psychological behaviour theories, including the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Norm Activation Theory (NAT), Value-Belief-Norm Theory (VBN), and a New Environmental Paradigm (NEP)
The NEP scale is widely used in several academic studies, which focus on areas such as: environment [33,60,61], socio-psychological context [27], green electricity [62], environmental attitudes of high school students [63], or green identity [49].The findings show that its impact ranges from none [64] to weak [33]
It is presumed in this study that perception should appear as a distinct psychological condition that provides a cognitive transition between awareness and attitude
Summary
The planet is facing various global challenges, including but not limited to: air pollution, global warming, climate change, overuse of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, and ecological crises. Changes in human behaviours are seen to be crucial since the efficiency gained by technical developments needs to be accepted and implemented by individuals. In light of these facts, since the 1960s, social and behavioural scientists have been engaged in studies investigating human understanding and behaviour along with the underlying dynamics that influence the formation of these behaviours [2]. Human understanding and behaviour play a critical role in success of efforts to move towards sustainability within an urban context, and are influenced by policy development, sustainability strategies, and environmental interventions. Pro-environmental and sustainable behaviour needs to be understood fully and in detail in order to provide sustainable urban living areas and a less unsustainable planet. How do they develop normative principles, what are their attitudinal responses, and what actions do they take? All these questions and more need to be addressed to comprehend the behavioural outcome(s) of individuals
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
