Predicting willingness to pay and implement different rooftop strategies to characterize social perception of climate change mitigation and adaptation

Abstract

With the latest IPCC report, dramatic global climate action must be taken immediately to limit global warming to 1.5 °C, or face more frequent and extreme weather events with catastrophic implications. Cities must invest in climate resilience development; however, government policies are only effective if they are supported by the society in which they serve. As such, this study aims to characterize the social perception of climate resilience development, in particular the implementation of sustainable urban rooftop strategies, to support policy makers and enable individual action. This was accomplished through the analysis of 1,100 answered surveys in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Spain), to assess one’s willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to implement (WTI) rooftop strategies according to: 1. socio-demographical characteristics; 2. social perceptions and beliefs; and 3. surrounding land use and land cover, and vulnerabilities identified through temperature and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) maps. The results of this study found age played a significant role in predictability, with 18–39-year-olds being the most willing to pay and implement the various rooftop scenarios. However, our results uncovered societal inequality as those 85+ were the second group most interested in rooftop agriculture but the most financially restricted. Belief in the viability of rooftop strategies increased respondents WTP and WTI while having access to ones’ rooftop increased willingness to partake in rooftop food cultivation and enhance rooftop greenery. A new finding presented by this study is the quantifiable impact that urban greenery plays on increasing survey respondents WTP and WTI.