Public Attitude Toward Investment in Sustainable Cities in Taiwan

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate public attitude toward investment in sustainable infrastructure in Taiwan. We decomposed the value of sustainability development into three dimensions, namely, environmental, societal, and economic values, and then showed that there were relationships between public attitude toward investment in sustainable cities and these sub-values of sustainability development. To do so, we built scales to measure public attitude toward investment in sustainable infrastructure and these sub-values of sustainability development. We used a questionnaire to collect our data, interviewing 359 undergraduate students in June of 2018. Multiple regression models were then employed for statistical analysis. We first found that, after controlling for the students’ gender and majors, the public attitude toward sustainable cities in Taiwan was correlated with environmental value but only partially related to economic value. Meanwhile, the relationship between the public attitude toward investment in sustainable cities and societal value was trivial. Moreover, we also found that the economic, societal, and environmental values of sustainability development are not mutually exclusive concepts but, rather, are compatible with each other in the overall concept of sustainable city design. We concluded that investment in sustainable cities in Taiwan was regarded by the public as mainly contributing to environmental value. These findings provide a theoretical contribution to the literature of environmental psychology. Furthermore, the conclusions of the study have methodological and practical implications for countries and firms involved in the public infrastructure development of sustainable cities.