Abstract
The success of urban sustainability is very much dependent on a number of human factors. Therefore, it becomes even more important to explore how people understand urban sustainability and how they behave accordingly. Based on a formerly developed conceptual framework and on specified influencing factors, this study aimed to evaluate and elucidate the urban sustainability understanding and behavior of individuals in the city of Istanbul. This was assessed through the use of a quantitative questionnaire survey of 535 respondents. Therein, socio-psychological processes of sustainability understanding (i.e., determinants of awareness, perception, and attitude) and sustainability behaviors along with personality traits and influential factors were assessed and analyzed through the use of bivariate and multivariate methods (i.e., correlation tests, ANOVA, t-tests, and multiple linear regression). The results showed that sustainability awareness was more strongly correlated with attitude than perception, whereas behavior was found to be strongly correlated with both awareness and attitude and was (significantly) predicted by all determinants. The associations/influences of personality traits with determinants were found to be mostly insignificant. Conversely, for behavior, they were significant. The most influential factors found (in hierarchical ordering) were awareness of consequences, trust in society, social appraisement, world-mindedness, willingness to pay, trust in science and technology, ascription of responsibility, age and gender.
Highlights
IntroductionPublisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
Awareness was assessed by five different questions (Aw1 to Aw5)
The conceptual framework proposed was found to be promising in terms of its ability to identify urban sustainability understanding and behavior, while being able to cast light on the impact of a range of personality traits and influencing factors
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Over the last 35 years, sustainability studies have featured prominently within research agendas around the world. Starting with the Brundtland Report in 1987 [1], sustainability’s prominence has increased with time. It was understood as the balance between nature and humans that provides continuous development [2]. Interpretations of sustainable development were defined by the three pillars approach, which includes economic development, social equity, and environmental protection [3]
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