Professor David Uzzell

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Environmental labour studies has grown into a research area with multiple studies of working-class environmentalism, predominantly in the Global North. To encourage comparative research and global political alliances, this handbook includes environmental struggles of Indigenous populations, subsistence farmers, fisherfolk and commoners. The introduction presents ways of thinking about the relationships between society, labour and nature, and a broader notion of work to include unwaged and subsistence workers in the Global North and South. It concludes with an outline of the book's six sections: histories of workers' environmental engagements globally; unionists, Indigenous peoples and environmentalists seeking common ground; environmental struggles of farmers, commoners and communities; unions and state environmental policies; organic intellectuals; and rethinking and broadening the concepts of work, work/energy, labour-nature, design and the future of work.

•Heritage sites are complex environments that pose challenges in identifying which attributes may enhance visitor wellbeing.•We develop and test a measurement instrument for the wellbeing effects of visits to heritage sites based on Attention Restoration Theory.•Different elements of heritage sites contribute differently to subjective wellbeing needs by increasing positive affect and reducing anxiety.•Empirical evidence for potential therapeutic benefits of visits to heritage sites. Heritage sites are complex environments that cannot be easily be located within a nature – built space dichotomy. Although a small but growing body of evidence supports the potential of visits to heritage sites in generating wellbeing benefits, there is a gap in understanding how such benefits may be related to the perceived qualities or affordances of heritage sites. We present an exploratory survey instrument designed and tested to generate empirical evidence on the association between the qualities of heritage sites, the restorative effects of a heritage visit, and the extent to which these are positively associated with self-reported subjective wellbeing benefits. The survey was given to sample of 780 visitors to 7 heritage sites in England from June to October 2020. Factor analysis of responses led to extraction of 3 core components related to how participants evaluated their experience of the qualities of place, and 2 core components linked to the restorative effects of the visit. Using these core components to create composite variables, regression models were fitted to understand which qualities of place and effects of the visit predict self-reported wellbeing benefits. The results suggest that different components of heritage sites may contribute to increase in positive affect and reduction in anxiety elements of wellbeing. They suggest potential therapeutic benefits of visits to heritage sites for self-directed visits, and thus potential means of sustainably delivering support for public wellbeing at scale.

This chapter addresses two key questions: When and in what context in the formative and working lives of leading unionists did ‘nature’ and ‘the environment’ become part of their worldview? How, as a consequence, has their engagement with the environment and their worldview influenced their thinking about the relationship between the environment and labour, and how has this, in turn, influenced their strategy, policymaking and leadership within their respective unions? Life-history interviews of 5 of the 20 unionists interviewed in the UK are discussed in depth to answer these questions. Because environmental concerns are an integral part of their socialist worldview, their analyses of environmental issues are intersectional and integrated with beliefs about justice and equality, and part of an advocacy for ground-up participatory approaches to transformational change.

Introducing Part V, this chapter describes the method of life-histories used by its authors and outlines the main characteristics of industrial relations in the USA, the UK and Spain.

The COVID-19 lockdown of society in 2020 deprived people of access to many heritage sites. This made the public uniquely aware of why they visited heritage sites and what they valued about the visits, once heritage sites reopened. In particular, regaining access framed visits in terms of personal agency and wellbeing. Notions of capability, social connections, ontological security, and trust - all important elements of wellbeing - were widely shared values. Heritage sites also offered distinct opportunities for combining hedonic (subjective) and eudaimonic (psychological) wellbeing effects. While heritage value cannot be reduced to wellbeing effects, we suggest that constructive awareness of how these effects may be generated can enhance the outcome of visits to heritage sites.

Environmental psychology seeks to provide a holistic account of the environment where the meaning captures the symbiotic relationship between the individual and their physical surroundings. If we are to achieve this, we need to understand how the environment 'speaks' to us and how we 'read' and interpret our environmental interactions. This paper begins by suggesting a model for understanding the relationships between environmental conditions, our psychological response to the environment, and how these might be mediated by the presence of other people. This is illustrated with two case studies from the UK, in which it is demonstrated that when a residential neighborhood is seen to be a high risk one in terms of crime, the perceived social order - either by the presence of the police or even by the types of residents who live there - mediates the messages communicated by the physical environment. The paper concludes by demonstrating that the physical environment provides 'affordances' which are the perceived physical qualities of a place that have the potential to facilitate people's physical and social activities. Affordances can be used by architects and landscape architects to not only reduce or design out crime, but also create social spaces that encourage people to use and enjoy the city.

Uzzell argues that only by integrating the individual into the social and collective context in which people live may help us to move towards an essential transformational approach to bringing about change in society to address the climate emergency. It is important to be clear about the different kinds of impacts that climate change is having so we can identify more precisely where psychologists may positively intervene. Climate change will have at least three effects where psychologists can intervene, a distinction that few psychologists make.

This paper presents some personal perceptions about “drivers of change,” which have impacted the role and nature of museums since the 1980s, leading to the rise of the visitor-centered museum. Such changes mirror developments occurring in society. In the case of museums, a decline in public funding has occurred at a time when increased resources are required to enable museums to successfully compete for the visitor dollar in the expanding “experience economy.” The authors suggest that the role and nature of museums in the future will be shaped by their responses to many challenges, the most important being: how to increase visitor numbers without negatively impacting on visitor satisfaction; how to adjust policy and practice as museums approach the limits of visitor growth; how to start to reverse the trend of declining public funding by demonstrating museums’ value to society through the adoption of community-centered policies and practice; and perhaps the most unpredictable, how museums will adjust their policies and practices in the face of possible climate change.

Lessons can be learned from the actions of the workers and shop stewards at Lucas Aerospace in the 1970s, who fought redundancies by developing a plan for alternative production to turn swords into ploughshares - to transform Lucas Aerospace from a company producing aeronautical and military systems to a company producing socially-useful products. The Lucas Alternative Plan failed for a variety of reasons, but the idea that workers can put forward alternative proposals for sustainable development - for a just transition - are suggestive of new ways for unions to participate in combating climate change. Recent developments of trade union policies towards climate change are discussed, with possible answers offered to some of the conflicts with which unions struggle in their attempt to garner more widespread support for their ambitious environmental policies.

This article compares how visions for integrating environmental issues into the union agenda are articulated from two different positions in the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO). The article is based on an analysis of ‘life history interviews’ and directs attention to the biographical circumstances under which individuals are able to work with environmental issues in unions. The analysis shows that the conditions for integrating environmental issues are weakened by the hierarchical culture of the organisation and by high levels of institutionalisation. LO furthermore lacks routines for mobilising the interests of environmental enthusiasts, and being positioned at headquarters hampers the abilities of union officials to mobilise environmental interests among members. Comparing the experiences from Sweden with the case of Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) in Spain shows that success depends on a relationship between individual engagement and political. Union transformation is contingent on developing issues that connect the immediate interests of workers with their long-term interests as citizens, such that a new workers’ identity can develop and lead to practices that overcome the ‘metabolic rift’.

This paper aims to advance knowledge about corporate environmentalism by using new concepts and methods. We broaden the concept of the firm as “differentiated composite actor” by including not only managers but workers and unionists as actors. We descend into the “hidden abode of production” using Lefebvre’s concept of “everyday life” to explore the barriers environmental policies experience in this sphere. We base our explorations on life-history interviews to understand how the imaginaries of production are embedded in people’s self-conceptions. We identify seven barriers to the implementation of environmental practices: deficient regulations, collusion between controller and controlled, de-prioritisation, hierarchism, compartmentalisation, specialisation, and social unsustainability. A “necessity discourse,” legitimating the priority of efficiency and product quality over environmental sustainability, subjugates alternative sustainable practices. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results in the light of previous investigations, suggesting that the concept of the everyday could enrich future research.

Several research studies have argued that people evaluate incivilities of places as part of the process of estimating how safe they might be. The study presented here examined whether such an assumption is upheld when people are allowed to express their thoughts about places before rating how disordered a place seems to them. British students evaluated three residential areas with different levels of disorder. First, participants had to write their impressions about the places and then rate how disordered, risky and unsafe the places seemed to them. The qualitative analysis showed that despite participants referred to physical disorder, only few participants mentioned crime and safety. Results from the quantitative analysis revealed that as the more disordered a place was rated the more unsafe it was considered. Findings suggest both that disordered places not always elicit unsafe concerns and that the so predicted relationship between disorder and safety maybe method dependant.

De acuerdo con varios estudios, la evaluación de incivilidades físicas y sociales de los lugares forma parte del proceso mediante el cual la gente estima su nivel de seguridad. El estudio que aquí se presenta investiga si tal supuesto se mantiene cuando a la gente se le permite expresar lo que piensa de un lugar antes de evaluar el nivel de desorden físico y social del mismo. En primer lugar, los participantes debían escribir sus impresiones sobre tres vecindarios con distintos niveles de desorden, y después evaluar mediante un cuestionario que tan desordenados e inseguros les parecían. El análisis cualitativo mostró que aun cuando los participantes mencionaron el desorden físico del lugar, sólo algunos de ellos hicieron referencia a cuestiones de crimen e inseguridad. El análisis cuantitativo reveló que mientras mas desordenado se evaluaba un lugar mayor inseguridad se percibía. Las conclusiones sugieren que, por un lado, la percepción de desorden de un lugar no siempre evoca respuestas de inseguridad y, por el otro, que la relación encontrada entre desorden e inseguridad puede deberse al método de investigación utilizado.

Peu de gens savent que les syndicats se sont engagés sur les questions écologiques, notamment ces dix dernières années. Historiquement les mouvements ouvriers des pays industrialisés ont vu la nature sous deux angles : soit comme un espace de récréation, soit comme un espace à préserver afin de protéger la santé et la sécurité des travailleurs. Dans les deux cas la nature est l’Autre du travail : elle est vue comme un lieu extérieur à la société et au processus de production. (A lot of people know that unions are committed to environmental issues, especially in the last decade. Historically, workers' movements in industrialized countries have seen nature from two angles: either as a recreation area or as a space to preserve in order to protect the health and safety of workers. In both cases, nature is the Other of work: it is seen as a place outside society and the process of production.)

Several research studies have argued that people evaluate incivilities of places as part of the process of estimating how safe they might be. The study presented here examined whether such an assumption is upheld when people are allowed to express their thoughts about places before rating how disordered a place seems to them. British students evaluated three residential areas with different levels of disorder. First, participants had to write their impressions about the places and then rate how disordered, risky and unsafe the places seemed to them. The qualitative analysis showed that despite participants referred to physical disorder, only few participants mentioned crime and safety. Results from the quantitative analysis revealed that as the more disordered a place was rated the more unsafe it was considered. Findings suggest both that disordered places not always elicit unsafe concerns and that the so predicted relationship between disorder and safety maybe method dependant.

This paper examines the convergence of national identities and war heritage, among first-, second- and third-plus-generation Australians. In Australia, interpretation of a First World War event, the Anzac story, is promoted as war heritage central to national identity. What meaning might this discourse have in today's multicultural Australia? Qualitative interviews were conducted with 93 adult visitors to the Australian War Memorial, 37 of whom had recent migrant backgrounds from 20 countries of origin. The analysis applied 'authorised heritage discourse' (AHD) as a theoretical framework. Visitors displayed three different orientations to an AHD that merged war heritage with national identity. The dominant grouppositively alignedwith the war heritage/national identity AHD. In this group, national identity is reinforced by those qualities typically ascribed as being forged out of the ANZAC's experience. Thoseconsciously alignedcritique the mythological status of the Anzac legacy yet embrace it as important for national identities. Thoseresistingthe war heritage/national identity AHD disrupt the often-assumed links between history, heritage and identities. These three orientations appear to be independent of the participants' country of birth or cultural background, showing the constructed nature of heritage and fluidity of national identities.

We investigate whether and how workers in a transnational oil corporation carry practices, meanings, and identities between the places of work and home, focusing on environmental and health and safety practices, in order to understand the larger question, how can environmentally relevant practices be generalized in society at large? Our theoretical starting point is that societal institutions function according to different logics (Thornton et al., 2012) and the borders (Clark, 2000) between these institutions create affordances and constraints on the transfer of practices between these places. By connecting their theoretical ideas, we suggest that these provide an alternative critique and explanatory account of the transfer of environmental practices between home and work than a “spillover” approach. We employ life history interviews to explore the development and complexity of the causes, justifications, and legitimations of people’s actions, social relationships, and the structural constraints which govern relationships between these spaces. While Clark’s concepts of permeable, strong, or blended borders are useful heuristic tools, people may simultaneously strengthen, transgress, or blend the borders between work and home in terms of practices, meanings, identities, or institutional logics. Individuals have to be understood as creators of the border crossing process, which is why their life histories and the ways in which their identities and their attachments to places (i.e., institutions) are shaped by the logics of these places are important. For environmental practices to travel from work to home, they need to become embedded in a company culture that allows their integration into workers’ identities.

Despite widespread acceptance of the need to change individual behaviour towards sustainability, resistance to change remains a continuing challenge. Past behaviour or habit, and psychological reactance, have been explored as components of resistance. Growing evidence for the influence of self-identity on behaviour suggests self-identity as a further factor. The current study draws on Identity Process Theory (Breakwell, 1986) to propose that threat to self-identity contributes to resistance to change, over and above the influence of past behaviour. Using travel-related vignettes to trigger threat, a study with 295 working parents in England found evidence supporting the relationship between self-identity threat and resistance to change travel behaviour, controlling for past behaviour. The findings further suggest identity threat as an alternative theoretical perspective on reactance. The results build theoretical understanding of resistance as a barrier to behaviour change. The application of an identity theory to understanding resistance is argued to add potentially new ways to encourage change towards sustainable behaviour. In addition, the findings suggest rich avenues for future research on the theoretical and empirical implications of the relationship of identities and sustainable behaviours.

With ever-increasing concerns about the consequences of climate change, households are an important focus for change. There is increasing pressure on households to change lifestyles and adopt behaviours that require less energy and natural resources. At the same time, retailers and producers of consumer goods aim to persuade people to consume more through commercial advertisements. Social science research examining sustainable behaviours often fails to examine the relative influence of both environmental concern and materialism simultaneously. Moreover, most of this research focuses on explaining or promoting behaviours with pro-environmental intent, thereby ignoring many consumer behaviours that may have a significant environmental impact. This article aims to address some of these shortcomings by examining the relationships between materialistic and environmental values and different consumer behaviours. Survey data from 194 individuals from 99 households were analysed. The findings show that quite a number of people express both relatively high levels of environmental concern and relatively high levels of materialism simultaneously. Moreover, materialism and environmental concern appear to be related to different types of behaviours. This raises important questions for the promotion of sustainable lifestyles, which may need to address not only environmental concerns but also materialistic concerns.

This study examines the intersection of individual life-histories, organisational histories and societal histories and reveals how religion, in several different expressions, serves to provide a connection between justice for workers and justice for the environment in the work of trade unionists. The trade union movement is generally seen as secular, and thus in our life history interviews religion as a backdrop to labour activists’ formation was unexpected. Religion becomes manifest in various ways, partly through experiences in the present or at formative periods in unionists’ lives, but also through its cultural embeddedness in language and collective memory. In this way it serves to provide subtle influences on beliefs, concepts of social justice and daily action.

This article examines relations between Anzac heritage and Australian national identity, among migrant visitors to the Australian War Memorial (AWM). What meaning could a story derived from Australian involvement in the First World War have to migrants who moved to Australia after the Second World War? Participants in qualitative interviews were eleven first-generation Australians, whose countries of birth were England, Greece, Ireland, New Zealand, Philippines, Scotland, South Africa and Sri Lanka, with parental countries of birth extending to Austria, Germany, India and Japan. Drawing on sociomaterial assemblage theory, the findings illustrate the concept of nested assemblages. At increasing scalar levels, the migrants form visitor-AWM assemblages, they may (or may not) feel part of a national Anzac heritage assemblage, and as migrants they are entangled in multiple national assemblages concurrently. Assemblages pertaining to family, faith, learning and memorialising were additional networks at play. Mapping interrelations amongst these assemblages showed migrants as actively gathering and interpreting heritage, sometimes as the enactment of national identity and at other times as the performance of informal, lifelong learning. The findings have importance to institutions seeking to be responsive to diverse and changing populations, particularly those wrestling with tensions around national identity.

In this article we describe findings from a recent study in which we interviewed four British teenage girls about their photo display practices, online and offline, in family homes. We adopted a phenomenological approach to inquiry, with a particular interest in exploring how photographic representations of self and family signal self-development in emerging adulthood. Findings reveal how teens portrayed themselves differently to friends, online, and family, offline. Self-presentation to peers through photographs was managed separately from the family and largely free from parental control. The separate, online domain was used to explore alternative self-representations with real friends. Our findings appear to signal changing politics of photograph ownership and family representation between the generations.

The introduction of electricity monitors (in-home displays; IHDs), which show accurate and up-to-the-minute energy usage, is expected to lead to reduction in consumption. Studies of feedback on domestic electricity use have generally supported this view. However, such studies also demonstrate wide variation between households. Examining the heterogeneity of responses is essential for understanding the actual and potential effectiveness of IHDs and in order to target interventions effectively. To explore differences between households’ responses to IHDs, we conducted a qualitative study with 21 households who had an IHD for more than six months. Of the 21, only four households continued to refer to the IHD and the findings suggest that attempts to reduce energy consumption were situated in wider social and physical contexts. Further, the participants demonstrated energy saving behaviour before and outside of IHD usage. The patterns of energy behaviours and attempts at electricity conservation could best be understood by categorising the households into three types: the Monitor Enthusiasts (20%), the Aspiring Energy Savers (60%) and the Energy Non-Engaged (20%). The factors of importance in energy behaviour differed between the categories. Financial savings contributed to efforts to reduce energy use but only up to boundaries which varied considerably between households. Social practices and social relationships appeared to constrain what actions households were prepared to undertake, illuminating aspects of inter-household variation. Within the household, all energy users were not equal and we found that women were particularly influential on energy use through their primary responsibility for domestic labour on behalf of the household. The implications of the findings for environmental campaigning are discussed. The research was funded by the Digital Economy Programme of the Research Councils UK, a cross-council initiative led by EPSRC (www.epsrc.ac.uk) and contributed to by AHRC, ESRC and MRC, under the REDUCE project grant (no EP/I000232/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

In recent years, the potential of religions for fostering more sustainable consumer behaviors on the part of their adherents has often been invoked. This article provides an overview of research on Christianity and ecologically conscious, socially conscious, and frugal consumer behaviors. Previous research has focused mainly on ecologically conscious consumer behavior, reporting mixed findings, depending on the religion measures that are used. In an extension to this body of work, a U.K.-based survey examining religious influences on socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviors is reported. Weak positive relationships between general religion measures (dispositional religiousness, spirituality, religious service attendance, and Christian identification) and both types of consumer behavior were obtained, suggesting that religion does indeed foster sustainable consumer behaviors, albeit marginally. However, attempts to distinguish among consumer behaviors by means of God concepts were largely unfruitful. Future research needs to investigate the influence of specific religious beliefs about consumerism, wealth, and social justice on consumer behavior. An increased focus on action research would also be valuable.

Trade unions are actively engaging with the climate change agenda and formulating climate change policies. Although governments are placing considerable effort on changing consumer behaviour, arguably the most significant impacts on climate change will be through changes in production. Even changes in consumption will have consequences for production. Changes in production will affect workers through the loss of jobs, the changing of jobs, and the creation of new jobs. The jobs versus environment dilemma is a significant issue affecting workers worldwide. In this paper we focus on the ways in which international trade unions are conceptualising the relationship between jobs and the environment, which provide the point of departure from which climate change policies can be formulated. Extended interviews were conducted with senior policy makers in national and international trade unions. On the basis of their responses, four discourses of trade union engagement with climate change are discussed: ‘technological fix’, ‘social transformation’, ‘mutual interests’ and ‘social movement’ discourses, which were theorised in the context of the different international histories and models of trade unionism. All discourses imply a re-invention of unions as social movements but do not see nature as a partner in human development.

Despite national plans to deploy smart meters in small and medium businesses in the UK, there is little knowledge of occupant energy use in offices. The objectives of the study were to investigate the effect of individual feedback on energy use at the workdesk, and to test the relationship between individual determinants, energy use and energy reduction. A field trial is presented, which monitored occupant energy use and provided individual feedback to 83 office workers in a university. The trial comprised pre- and post-intervention surveys, energy measurement and provision of feedback for 18 weeks post-baseline, and two participant focus groups. The main findings were: statistically significant energy reduction was found, but not for the entire measurement period; engagement with feedback diminished over time; no measured individual variables were related to energy reduction and only attitudes to energy conservation were related to energy use; an absence of motivation to undertake energy reduction actions was in evidence. The implications for energy use in offices are considered, including the need for motivations beyond energy reduction to be harnessed to realise the clear potential for reduced energy use at workdesks. © 2013 The Authors.

A growing number of studies have systematically examined the relationships between religiousness and value priorities. However, few studies have utilized multidimensional constructs of religiousness or attempted to distinguish among the value priorities of the religious. Using a general public sample and a churchgoer sample in the United Kingdom, this article examines the associations between Schwartz's values, several general religion measures, and conceptualization of God. Religiousness aligns most strongly along the conservation/openness to change value dimension, and spirituality is rotated further toward self-transcendence values. Findings suggest a shift among the religious away from an emphasis on security. God concepts are uniquely related to some value types. Particularly among the churchgoers, for whom God concepts may be especially formative, characteristics attributed to God are reflected in value priorities. These findings support the theoretical assertion that conceptualization of God is a foundational religious belief implicated in more specific values, attitudes, and beliefs.

Growing evidence supports a range of non-instrumental factors influencing travel mode. Amongst these, identity has been proposed. However, to date, the relationship has not been systematically investigated and few investigations have harnessed a theoretical framework for identity. Drawing on role theory (Stryker, S., 1980, Symbolic interactionism: A social structural version. CA: Benjamin Cummings), we hypothesised that multiple identities, of varying importance, are related to travel mode choice. The study of 248 UK urban/suburban, working, car-owning parents used survey-based data to test the influence of seven identities on travel mode choice in regular travel. Multiple and logistic regression analyses found multiple identities to be significantly related to travel mode to work, on escort education and on other regular journeys. The study demonstrated different patterns of relationship between identity on different types of journey and found evidence for travel mode choice as embedded within social identities. In addition to the study‟s contribution of new empirical findings, its application of a theoretical focus on identity offers additional strategies in attempting to change travel behaviours towards sustainability.

In an effort to contribute to greater understanding of norms and identity in the theory of planned behaviour, an extended model was used to predict residential kerbside recycling, with self-identity, personal norms, neighbourhood identification, and injunctive and descriptive social norms as additional predictors. Data from a field study (N =527) using questionnaire measures of predictor variables and an observational measure of recycling behaviour supported the theory. Intentions predicted behaviour, while attitudes, perceived control, and the personal norm predicted intention to recycle. The interaction between neighbourhood identification and injunctive social norms in turn predicted personal norms. Self-identity and the descriptive social norm significantly added to the original theory in predicting intentions as well as behaviour directly. A replication survey on the self-reported recycling behaviours of a random residential sample (N =264) supported the model obtained previously. These findings offer a useful extension of the theory of planned behaviour and some practicable suggestions for pro-recycling interventions. It may be productive to appeal to self-identity by making people feel like recyclers, and to stimulate both injunctive and descriptive norms in the neighbourhood.

There has been little research on the differential aspects of the local/global dichotomy, yet there is every suggestion that such a distinction could be crucially important in terms of understanding the public's perceptions and attitudes towards environmental problems as well as understanding their subsequent behaviour. This research sought to address three questions. First, are people only able to relate to environmental issues if they are concrete, immediate and local? Second, do people consider environmental problems to be more serious at a global or a local level? Third, what is the effect of the public's perceptions of the seriousness of environmental problems on their sense of responsibility for taking action? Three studies were undertaken in Australia, England, Ireland and Slovakia. The results of each study con sistently demonstrate that respondents are not only able to conceptualize problems at a global level, but an inverse distance effect is found such that environmental problems are perceived to be more serious the farther away they are from the perceiver. An inverse relationship was also found between a sense of responsibility for environmental problems and spatial scale resulting in feelings of powerlessness at a global level. The paper concludes with a discussion of various psychological theories and perspectives which informs our analysis and understanding of what might be seen as environmental hyperopia. (C) 2000 Academic Press.

This paper tested a new conceptual model suggesting that risk perception is a significant mediator between perceived neighbourhood disorder and a sense of (un)safety. Three components of risk perception were evaluated: perceived vulnerability, controllability and probability of occurrence of specific offences. Using photo-simulation, three places with different levels of physical and social disorder were created and 120 British students rated the level of disorder, risk and safety of each place. Results showed that risk perception partially mediated the relationship between perceived disorder and safety. Perceived vulnerability was the strongest predictor and mediator in all three places but most significantly in the degraded place. Findings indicated that the more disordered a place is perceived the more a person relies on the perception of risk to estimate how safe she or he might be. Investigating the interpretive processes that occur when people estimate risk and safety, is crucial.

Research on product life-spans tends to link the causes of psychological obsolescence with end-users and product designers, and posits the consequences of obsolescence in terms of increasing e-waste and energy use. Drawing upon qualitative fieldwork conducted with employees of a global computer firm and users of its laptop computers this article brings together the poles of production and consumption to explore the dynamics of de-stabilization in product qualities, connecting the intensification of this process to psychological obsolescence and unsustainable patterns of consumption. First, we demonstrate that consumer-facing functions within the firm such as user research, sales and marketing play a key role in driving the pace of technological change within the firm by specifying consumer demand. We argue that by distilling an imaginary demanding consumer from various sources, the firm justifies and drives rapid de-stabilization in product qualities and specifications. We show how this prompts end consumers to constantly re-evaluate product qualities, devaluing existing products and contributing to psychological obsolescence and disposal of functioning products. We then go on to discuss the environmental implications of this process, suggesting that whilst premature disposal due to perceived obsolescence may not increase waste in the short term, it is still likely to contribute to an increase in material and energy use in manufacturing.

In the study reported in this article the roles of social cohesion, residential satisfaction, and place identification are examined for their effect on place-related social identity and its consequential impact on attitudes to environmental sustainability. Two neighborhoods in Guildford, Surrey, England were selected on the basis of their social histories, housing types, and socioeconomic composition. Ninety residents in each neighborhood were sampled. Research methods included cognitive mapping and a questionnaire survey. A structural equation model was used to analyze the covariances between the different factors. The results show clear differences between the two neighborhoods in terms of residential satisfaction, with only some differences in terms of identification and social cohesion and sustainability. Conclusions are drawn that suggest an important relationship between identity and sustainability behavior that is suggestive for future research.

We argue that the majority of civil society conceptualizations employ a narrow concept of the state and a narrow concept of civil society. The life history of a Brazilian woman demonstrates that as individuals travel through state institutions and civil society organizations (CSOs), they carry conflicting worldviews with them which bear on the practices of CSOs. With Gramsci we recognize civil society as a space where movements and the state struggle for hegemony; beyond him we conceptualize CSOs as contradictory, being simultaneously of and against the state, while the state is simultaneously outside and within them.

The personal assessments of the Current and expected future state of the environment by 3232 community respondents in 18 nations were investigated at the local, national, and global spatial levels. These assessments were compared to a ranking of each country's environmental quality by air expert panel. Temporal pessimism ("things will get worse") Was found in the assessments at all three spatial levels. Spatial optimism bias ("things are better here than there") was found in the assessments of current environmental conditions in 15 Of 18 countries, but not in the assessments of the future. All countries except one exhibited temporal pessimism, but significant differences between them were common. Evaluations of current environmental conditions also differed by country. Citizens' assessments of current conditions, and the degree of comparative optimism, were strongly correlated with the expert panel's assessments of national environmental quality. Aside from the value of understanding global trends in environmental assessments, the results have important implications for environmental policy and risk management strategies. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The considerable literature on domestic energy consumption practices has tended to focus on either the (re)production and contestation of normative imaginaries, or the links between escalating standards and energy use. Far less has been written which links these related areas together. Accordingly, this paper is positioned at the intersection of debates on domestic consumption, energy use, and home cultures. Through a qualitative study of laptop use in the home, we illustrate how energy-intensive practices, such as ‘always-on-ness’, and changing computer ecologies and infrastructures, are intimately bound up with the reproduction of particular domestic imaginaries of family and home. A key insight in this paper is that a purely physiological conception of comfort would fail to explain fully why practices such as always-on-ness emerge, and thus we theorise comfort as an accomplishment comprised of inseparable temporal, bodily, spatial, and material elements. Ultimately, we argue here that comfort needs to be understood as a multivalent imaginary that is itself bound up in broader idealised notions of family and home in order to comprehend shifting practices, computing ecologies, and rising energy consumption.

Management of zoonotic disease is necessary if countryside users are to gain benefit rather than suffer harm from their activities, and to avoid disproportionate reaction to novel threats. We introduce a conceptual framework based on the pressure–state–response model with five broad responses to disease incidence. Influencing public behaviour is one response and requires risk communication based on an integration of knowledge about the disease with an understanding of how publics respond to precautionary advice. A second framework emphasizes how risk communication involves more than information provision and should address dimensions including points-of-intervention over time, place and audience. The frameworks are developed by reference to tick-borne Lyme borreliosis (also known as Lyme disease), for which informed precautionary behaviour is particularly relevant. Interventions to influence behaviour can be directed by knowledge of spatial and temporal variation of tick abundance, what constitutes risky behaviour, how people respond to information of varying content, and an understanding of the social practices related to countryside use. The frameworks clarify the response options and help identify who is responsible for risk communication. These aspects are not consistently understood, and may result in an underestimation of the role of land-based organizations in facilitating appropriate precautionary behaviour.

The focus of this paper is on how popular representations of the countryside provide countryside users with a discursive framework to make sense of unfamiliar countryside-based risks, taking Lyme disease as an example. Sixty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with 82 visitors in Richmond Park, New Forest, and Exmoor National Park in the UK. The data were analysed using thematic analysis and was informed by social representations theory. The analysis indicated that a lay understanding of the risk of Lyme disease was filtered by place-attachment and the social representations of the countryside. Lyme disease was not understood primarily as a risk to health, but was instead constructed as a risk to the social and restorative practices in the context of the countryside. The findings suggest that advice about zoonoses such as Lyme disease is unlikely to cause panic, and that it should focus on the least intrusive preventative measures.

This study investigates how the younger generation conceptualise cultural heritage attractions associated with modern history in contemporary South Korea. Particular attention in this study is given to heritage attractions built in the Japanese colonising past. By analysing data obtained through a Multiple Sorting Procedure, this study identifies the underlying facets of heritage attractions the younger generation consider to be important when appreciating the heritage attractions. In particular, this study examines the socio-psychological properties and meanings that the heritage attractions communicate with respect to young Koreans’ sense of national identity. This study found that a wide range of constructs emerged in understanding cultural heritage attractions. Social and political meanings embedded in the heritage attractions become a key determinant in appreciating heritage attractions with respect to a sense of national identity. Three broad types of heritage attractions in present-day South Korean society are identified. These findings from South Korean suggest invaluable messages that can inform our understanding of, and planning regenerating negative-natured heritage attractions for tourism in contemporary society.

Research on children's learning in museums, children's attempts to change their parents' environmental practices, and how the different 'logics' of home and the workplace affect offshore oil workers' transfer of environmental practices between the two, all focus on the critical role of the family in environmental change. This Open Space piece reflects on how environmental practices are strongly influenced by the family and the other institutions with which the family interacts

Despite the importance of demand response, there has been little exploration of its potential impact on the individual or society. To address this gap, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 households in the south of England, in which two demand response vignettes were presented: peak pricing and remote demand control during critical peaks. Peak pricing was seen as inequitable, burdening the less affluent, the less healthy, families and working mothers. Adverse societal outcomes may result from peak pricing, with potential for disruption of time-dependent household routines including the socially vital ritual of family mealtimes. Householders perceived their peak-time consumption to be determined by society’s temporal patterns and not within their control to change. Third-party control in demand side management was perceived to contravene householders’ rights of control inside their homes. Alternative approaches to shifting peak demand, which combine technological, economic and socio-psychological insights, are considered.

The global deployment of technology to aid mitigation of climate change has great potential but the realisation of much of this potential depends on behavioural response. A culturally pervasive reliance on and belief in technology raises the risk that dependence on technology will hamper human actions of mitigation. Theory suggests that ‘green’ behaviour may be undermined by automated technology but empirical investigation has been lacking. We examined the effect of automation on three everyday behaviours with environmental impact. Based on evidence from observational and experimental studies, we demonstrated that the prospect of automation can undermine even simple actions for sustainability. Further, we examined the process by which automated technology influences behaviour and found that automation may impair personal responsibility for action.

Terence (Terry) Lee was not the first psychologist to see the importance of taking psychology out of the laboratory and putting it into the service of society, but he was arguably the first in the UK to see the potential application of psychology to the problems of urban planning and the environment. His contribution and foresight influenced profoundly the development of environmental psychology in the UK and overseas, and the lives of many who have worked in this field.

This special issue is a contribution to environmental labour studies, which aims to investigate the practices and theories that integrate labour and nature, by focusing on labour environmentalism. While nature is privately appropriated and exploited by Capital, workers’ organizations tend to construct nature as labour’s other, a place to enjoy or a place to be protected from destruction at best. In the following introductory article to this special issue, we present our view of what environmental labour studies are investigating and might investigate in the future and the place of labour environmentalism within this broader agenda. We also suggest an analytical framework to evaluate the depth, breadth, and level of the agency of the variations of labour environmentalism. We suggest that environmental labour studies can be a way of studying not only the intersections between social and environmental justice, climate change and working conditions but can also contribute to building a bridge between environmental theory and practice.

The Anzac story, originally associated with the 1915 battle of Gallipoli, is considered an important part of Australia's national identity, and for many Australians has come to represent a number of the collective values of the nation. This research, undertaken in Australia and Turkey, explores the impact of a visit to the Australian War Memorial (660 participants) or Gallipoli battlefields (282 participants) on visitors' national identity and broadly-defined learning outcomes. Findings indicate that a visit to either site had some impact on national identity, but other learning outcomes were stronger. It is concluded that war heritage interpretation has the potential to evoke inclusive rather than exclusive responses, facilitating reconciliation rather than highlighting division.

Understanding the diversifying role of civil society in Europe’s sustainability pathway is a valid proposition both scientifically and socially. Civil society organisations already play a significant role in the reality of cities, what remains to be explored is the question: what is the role of civil society in the future sustainability of European cities? We first examine the novelty of new forms of civil society organization based on a thorough review of recent case studies of civil society initiatives for sustainable transitions across a diversity of European projects and an extensive literature review. We conceptualize a series of roles that civil society plays and the tensions they entail. We argue that, civil society initiatives can pioneer new social relations and practices therefore be an integral part of urban transformations and can fill the void left by a retreating welfare state, thereby safeguarding and servicing social needs but also backing up such a rolling back of the welfare state. It can act as a hidden innovator—contributing to sustainability but remaining disconnected from the wider society. Assuming each of these roles can have unintended effects, such as being proliferated by political agendas, which endanger its role and social mission, and can be peeled off to serve political agendas resulting in its disempowerment and over-exposure. We conclude with a series of implications for future research on the roles of civil society in urban sustainability transitions

We present the life histories of two environmentally engaged unionists in South Africa, who were decisive for formulating the environmental programmes of their respective trade unions. Their experiences of participating in the resistance against apartheid in universities and factories taught them the necessity to connect different struggles and equipped them with the knowledge and ability to connect the fight for workers’ rights with the fight against environmental degradation. Both activists experienced the difficulty of integrating ‘the environment’ politically and practically into a trade union agenda. The labour movement has traditionally experienced nature as a place outside of work to be enjoyed for recreation. While nature constitutes an indispensable condition for labour, it has been privately appropriated by Capital. For environmental policies to form an integral part of union agendas, nature needs to be wrestled away from its appropriation by Capital and understood as an inseparable ally of labour.

Background Lyme disease (LD) is a tick-borne zoonosis currently affecting approximately 1000 people annually in the UK (confirmed through serological diagnosis) although it is estimated that the real figures may be as high as 3000 cases. It is important to know what factors may predict correct appraisal of LD symptoms and how the experience of LD might predict preferences for future precautionary actions. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted with early LD patients via the Lyme Borreliosis Unit at the Health Protection Agency. One hundred and thirty participants completed measures of awareness of having been bitten by ticks, knowledge of ticks and LD, interpretation of LD symptoms, suspicions of having LD prior to seeing the General Practitioner (GP), and preferences for precautionary actions during future countryside visits. Chi-square tests and logistic regression were used to identify key predictors of awareness of having been bitten by ticks and of having LD. t-tests assessed differences between groups of participants on suspicions of having LD and preferences for future precautions. Pearson correlations examined relationships between measures of preferences for precautions and frequency of countryside use, knowledge of ticks and LD, and intentions to avoid the countryside in the future. Results 73.8% of participants (n = 96) reported a skin rash as the reason for seeking medical help, and 44.1% (n = 64) suspected they had LD before seeing the GP. Participants reporting a direct event in realizing they had been bitten by ticks (seeing a tick on skin or seeing a skin rash and linking it to tick bites) were more likely to suspect they had LD before seeing the doctor. Participants distinguished between taking precautions against tick bites during vs. after countryside visits, largely preferring the latter. Also, the more frequently participants visited the countryside, the less likely they were to endorse during-visit precautions. Conclusions The results suggest that the risk of LD is set in the context of the restorative benefits of countryside practices, and that it may be counterproductive to overemphasize pre- or during-visit precautions. Simultaneously, having experienced LD is not associated with any withdrawal from countryside.

There has been a significant increase during the last decade in the UK of the incidence of the Lyme disease. It is transmitted through tick bites, and can have serious health consequences if not treated early. This study examined how the responsibility for managing and communicating the health risks from Lyme disease to forest workers and recreational visitors was constructed and acted upon by 21 interviewees in key managerial positions within one of the largest UK forestry organisations. The in-depth, semi-structured interviews were analysed using discourse analysis within a Foucauldian framework. The results demonstrated that the construction of responsibility towards the workforce and visitors was embedded into broader representations of the forest as a working, recreational and natural environment, as well as into the binary conceptualisation of forest hazards as natural and human-made. These constructions prescribed respective subject positions which differentially informed assumptions of responsibility, and consequent actions, towards the workforce and the public.

Research shows that people value woodlands for relaxation and as a place to have contact with nature. Yet woodlands can also involve exposure to a variety of risks. In this study the way in which people consider issues of risk in environments generally associated with a range of positive values was explored with visitors to a woodland in South East England. A walk through the woods taking photographs, focus group discussions and questionnaires were the methods used in this research with four groups of people from a range of ages. We focused on the positive and negative aspects of woodlands and discussed risks that might be encountered in this environment before focusing specifically on Lyme borreliosis (Lyme disease) as an example of a specific risk. Those involved in the research understood that there are potential risks that may have an impact on their use of woodlands. However, they did not passively accept information on risks but generated their own understanding based on the development of what they considered to be ‘common sense’ approaches to dealing with risk. The way in which people value woodlands is something they take into consideration when discussing risks that might be encountered on a woodland visit. In relation to Lyme borreliosis, participants favour taking action after their woodland visit (e.g. looking for ticks or a rash), rather than beforehand, so as not to detract from their woodland experience. Communication about these risks should be simple and concise and take into account the values, behaviours and practices that people typically undertake in these environments.

The Oral History Society (2008) defines oral history as ‘the recording of people’s memories. It is the living history of everyone’s unique life experiences’ which ‘enables people who have been hidden from history to be heard’. The present study used the life histories approach, a type of oral history in which memories from points right across the lifespan are recorded. This was used to record the experiences of participants with food, enabling an examination of their food practises and the meanings they associated with food within the context of their lives. Female participants were recruited from three age groups: ~70 years, ~40 years, and ~20 years, to enable a more detailed analysis of the relationship between personal experience and historical events. Participants were recruited from across various income levels and geographical locations (Surrey and Northumberland). A thematic analysis was then conducted, to identify key themes within the transcribed narratives.

The emphasis by governments - in both research and policies - on arresting climate change and encouraging sustainable consumption has largely focussed on individual consumers who are seen to be responsible for the insatiable growth in demand for carbon generating consumer goods and services. In contrast to producers (e.g., individual companies to global corporations), consumers are fragmented and disorganised as a group; there is no consumer voice to counter the power of corporations that drive rather than respond to the market. Consumer associations are usually interested only in the quality, prices and variety of goods, not their sustainability. Trade union members are one collectivity that are consumers, but also part of the production process. They are highly organised, have a local, national and international presence, are integrated into the social fabric of societies and may be the only collectivity that have the resources and power to challenge corporations. This paper will report on interviews with senior trade union officials at national and international levels concerning their policies in respect of working conditions and environmental issues in the context of globalisation where corporations relocate work to the countries of the South because they can profit from lower wages, poorer working conditions and unregulated environmental degradation.

This paper presents results of a project aimed at investigating the ways in which trade unions in the “Global North” and the “Global South” respond to the dual challenge of a globalising work division and globalising environmental degradation, and whether and under what conditions trade unions perceive and address these issues as connected. While globalising corporations are forming new international relations of power, trade unions are lagging behind in unifying their efforts to counter globalised environmental destruction.

A year ago, it was possible to claim that climate change is no longer a contested issue: what is contested is what we can do about it. The limited success of COP15 (Copenhagen marketed itself as ‘Hopenhagen’) and the rise in public scepticism about both the evidence in support of climate change and the role of humans in causing it has the potential to undo all the advances made over the last decade to raise the public’s level of concern so that they engage in more sustainable lifestyles. While technological fixes and financial instruments have an important part to play, their effectiveness is usually mediated by the way the public understands, interprets, engages with or responds to such actions. Moreover, these strategies alone will not suffice: changing the public’s social, economic and environmental behaviours and everyday practices is also essential. Already psychology is making a significant contribution to this work – whether it is devising mitigation and adaptation strategies and interventions, gathering of evidence about the potential and actual effectiveness of policies and practical actions, or challenging common or taken for granted ways of thinking about these issues. This Joint British Academy/British Psychological Society Annual Lecture will examine some of the exciting and influential work being undertaken by psychologists. While encouraging individuals to change their attitudes and behaviours is clearly important, we know that climate change is a collective problem requiring collective solutions. Considerable emphasis will be placed in this lecture on the role and importance of social context, collective action and community cooperation. How have people come to lead unsustainable lifestyles through developments of changes in the wider society? How can community initiatives be made more effective? What can we learn from the international trade union movement which is working across the North-South divide to link environmental measures with social justice?

The globalisation of work division and global Climate Change are closely linked through the process of economically driven globalisation. In principle, trade unions are best equipped to challenge the destructive results of these globalising processes: they organise workers across national divides and within national borders, being simultaneously local and global. However, a closer look at labour policies in countries of the global North and the global South reveals that historical power relations reproduce themselves in the relationships between unions of the global North and the global South. These power relations influence the ways in which unions in the North and South perceive climate change and climate change measures. The authors show that there are nevertheless ways in which unions of the North and the South are learning from each other and from environmental movements exploring alternative models of development.

Almost thirty years ago, Harold Proshansky argued that if environmental psychology was to survive, it needed to “strengthen itself as a social institution”. While we can find much evidence to suggest that environmental psychology has achieved this, in so doing it has tended to concentrate on changes to individual consumption behaviours and lifestyles, rather than focusing on the everyday lives and conditions which frame the actions of individuals and communities. People live, work, and act in cooperation with others and this cooperation is shaped by and shapes individual and collective identities and actions. One of the central places where people act collectively is the workplace. Two case studies are presented. The first employed backcasting scenarios to explore employees’ visions for an alternative, sustainable future and involved scenario development by creating visions for the future, defining strategic pathways to reach them, providing feedback on how policy measures would function in a simulated environment and asking participants to suggest corrections to their initial proposals and the model design. The second case study reports on an international study of the role of trade unions in contributing to environmentally sustainable production and curbing the damaging effects of climate change. It sets this in a global context, because the causes and consequences of climate change have to be seen in such terms. This then leads to the final part of the chapter, which raises important issues about the ‘production’ of environmental psychology and North-South relationships.

Carl Graumann was an influential figure in my early career. I always enjoyed his writings and found the genealogical intellectual links he made with the early German psychologists stimulating. His work and ideas always had a resonance for me and I found myself sitting comfortably in its philosophical and theoretical positioning. Several years ago Gabriel Moser and I had the idea of undertaking a research project looking at influential figures in environmental psychology. Our aim has been to explore how those psychologists and other researchers who were influential in the early years of people-environment relationships became interested in the subject and who had influenced them such that environmental psychology was the offspring of their efforts. Carl was an obvious person to invite. In my paper I will talk briefly about who had influenced Carl, and how he developed his ideas in phenomenology, identity and the social construction of environmental problems, and sought to promote the “ecologisation” of psychology

This presentation was published as "Rathzel, N and Uzzell, D (2009). Changing relations in global environmental change. Global Environmental Change, 19 (3). 326 - 335. Available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7421/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378009000399 We discuss a cross-national pilot study in Sweden and the UK examining young people's environmental concerns and their perceptions of the causes and solutions. The study demonstrates that evaluations of the causes of environmental degradation are partly contingent upon the manner in which questions are framed leading to quite different interpretations of the findings. Moreover, attitudes also differ significantly between the British and the Swedish sample: in the UK environmental degradation is seen as more serious but also more distant from the respondents’ everyday experiences when answering pre-formulated questions. The causes of environmental degradation are located in both countries in government and industry policies promoting economic growth on the one hand. On the other, respondents identify distant developments in emerging economies as problems, without connecting their local experiences to the global effects they describe. In the open-ended part of the survey, individual behaviour is seen as the most important cause of environmental degradation. But while British respondents describe individuals as selfish, lazy and consumerist, Swedish respondents emphasise also structural causes like Western lifestyles and the market society. We present possible explanations for these differences and discuss the relationships between the global and the local in relation to constructions of the Other as well as the relationship of individualism and authoritarianism that emerge from the results.

Using the model of risk information seeking and processing (Griffin, Dunwoody, & Neuwirth, 1999), the present survey investigated the information needs and the motivations for precautionary behaviour from the perspective of those who have been affected by Lyme disease, an infectious disease caused by ticks infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Of the 130 Lyme disease patients (M age S.15) recruited via the Lyme disease unit at the HPA, 74.80% had heard of Lyme disease before contracting the disease, and of these, 59% were aware of precautions against tick bites. The patients‘ information sufficiency was predicted by their knowledge of Lyme disease, but this relationship was mediated by the belief that the risks of tick bites are well-known and controllable (Aroian‘s z =99, p < .05). Intentions for precautionary behaviour loaded on two factors, representing precautions before and after the visit to the countryside (e.g. covering sk! in vs. checking skin for ticks). Intentions for pre-precautions were related to worry and to the perceived severity of tick bites, as well as to information sufficiency: the less the patients felt they knew about their health condition, the more motivated they were to take precautions. The patients‘ preference for post visit precautions (Ms =10 vs. 3.34, t (1, 104) =82, p < .001) suggests that previous experience of risk can diminish perceptions of risk or, equally, that restorative environments such as the countryside can inhibit precautionary behaviour. The implications for risk communication will be discussed

The School of Tourism’s Visitor Research Forum took place at the St Lucia campus on 18th January 2012, and provided the opportunity for those working in visitor research in museums, zoos, botanic gardens, national parks, heritage sites and ecotourism settings to come together around the theme Interpreting our Heritage and Understanding our Visitors. The one-day conference featured presentations by Professor David Uzzell from the University of Surrey, a W. James Whyte Visiting Research Fellow at the UQ School of Tourism.

The School of Tourism’s Visitor Research Forum took place at the St Lucia campus on 18th January 2012, and provided the opportunity for those working in visitor research in museums, zoos, botanic gardens, national parks, heritage sites and ecotourism settings to come together around the theme Interpreting our Heritage and Understanding our Visitors. The one-day conference featured presentations by Professor David Uzzell from the University of Surrey, a W. James Whyte Visiting Research Fellow at the UQ School of Tourism.

The article discusses the ways in which international trade unions are conceptualising the relationship between jobs and the environment. On the basis of interviews with union representatives, four such ways are discerned: »technological fi x«, »transformation of social identities«, »rearticulation of immediate interests« and »engagement for general interests«. All four ways of reasoning imply a re-invention of unions as social movements but reduce nature to an environment providing the conditions for human health/illness. The authors argue that Marx’ notion of labour and nature as the two sources of wealth and of work as the process in which humans develop their capabilities can provide a point of departure for unions to conceptualise production as a process in which nature and labour form an alliance. This implies challenging the private appropriation of nature.

In the past, environmental movements and labour movements have seen each other as opponents. Where labour movements have taken an interest in nature it has been in the early movements as a space of recreation, later as a necessary condition for a healthy life. In both cases nature has been constructed as “the Other” of labour. The same can be said for environmental movements, which have aimed to defend, often conserve nature “against labour”. This opposition has been mirrored in the academic field in as much that environmental studies have not taken any account of labour, whereas labour studies have largely ignored the environment. The authors argue that these oppositions are started to being tackled within the respective movements and within academic research as well. As the contributions in this volume demonstrate, there is a need for a new area of research: environmental labour studies.

Prof David Uzzell "spoke on the direct and indirect effects of climate change, including psychological impacts such as stress, anxiety, interpersonal conflict, and PTSD. “We have a serious problem, he stated. “I think we are living on and looking over the precipice and don’t have much time. We need policies to slow down and reverse the current trajectory, and yet collectively we behave as if we believe the opposite.” Note taken from Hassan, A. (Dec 2008). REPORT. Expert Panelists Gather at the Second Annual Psychology Day at the United Nations: Psychology and Social Justice. Psychology (19(5), December 2008. The theme of Psychology Day was particularly fitting in the context of the 60th anniversary, on December 10, 2008 of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Available online at: http://www.apa.org/international/pi/2008/12/un.aspx

Most of the conceptual and empirical approaches that have investigated the effects that physical design and social factors have in people’s perception of safety in residential neighbourhoods (Newman 1972, 1996; Taylor and Harrel, 1996; Skogan, 1990; Van Beek Gert, 2004) do not consider risk perception as a key component of place evaluation, which is believed to significantly account for perceived safety. Research findings suggest that disorder is more strongly related to risk perception and that the latter is a better predictor of fear of crime and perceived safety in residential neighbourhoods. It seems that perceived risk is one of several important components in explaining fear (Ferraro, 1995; Jackson, 2002; Wilcox and Land 1996). A study with 120 students from a British University, was conducted to explore the role that risk perception might have in the (dis)order and perceived safety relationship. Three photographs from a deprived place in England were used. A panoramic view of The Actual Place, with no people, was taken at daytime. By modifying its physical features, two variations of the place using a computer design programme were created: A Degraded Place and an Improved Place. A questionnaire was also developed in order to measure perceived physical and social disorder, risk perception and perceived safety. Results showed that photo manipulations made to the actual place did work as they created three places with significantly different levels of physical and social (dis)order. Only few significant differences by gender were found. Using multiple regression, it was found that risk perception is a better and stronger predictor of perceived safety than perceived (dis)order, especially in the degraded and the actual places. Overall, it seems that the level of degradation is important in providing cues about the place and people living there, although there are other psycho-social factors that make people think about how vulnerable they are, their ability to face the risk and the disposition they might have to accept or reject the risk. Risk perception, as an intuitive and a subjective evaluation of the hazard, helps people to predict the level of danger they may face, and as a consequence, accept or reject the danger.

Ten years ago a series of international studies were undertaken (DU) to assess the public’s concern about a number of environmental problems at the local, national and global level (Uzzell, 2000). This paper reports on an exploratory study with a sample of 94 UK students (University of Surrey) and 39 Swedish students (University of Umeĺ) which sought to assess whether there has been any change in environmental attitudes within the last decade. Respondents were asked to indicate in how good or poor a state the environment is at the local, country and global levels, whether the environment would be in a better or poorer state in 20 years time, their attitudes towards consumerism and their attributions of responsibility for bringing about change. Furthermore, a series of open ended questions sought to elicit their ‘unstructured’ views about their environmental concerns, the perceived causes and their suggestions for solutions. Not only did the qualitative responses indicate different priorities, but they demonstrated the need for contextual/local knowledge to make sense of cross-cultural comparisons. International and cross-cultural studies not only require the collaboration of data-collectors, but also data-interpreters.

Life histories is an extremely rich qualitative methodology which is based on a tradition of storytelling and oral history which dates back thousands of years. It involves the telling of memories and experiences from right across the lifespan, from childhood, through key life events such as marriage and parenthood, to the present day. Its ability to highlight various attitudes, values, and behaviours, as well as to chart their progress and change across the lifespan, makes it an extremely valuable tool for the social sciences. This paper examines some key principles and methodological assumptions of life histories, and suggests some ways in which these differ from those of the dominant discourse in psychology, in order to help social scientists to better understand and apply this methodology within their own research. The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is gratefully acknowledged. This work is part of the interdisciplinary research programme of RESOLVE - the ESRC Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and the Environment.

The life histories methodology is a form of oral history which involves the recording of people’s memories and experiences across their lifespan. A life history interview typically examines the interviewee’s family background, memories and experiences of childhood, school, marriage, parenthood, and retirement (if older participants are recruited), as well as present day activities. In the past it has been used as an effective tool by historians to add personal narratives to the more traditional historical content of important events and dates in time (e.g. Portelli, 1991, 1997). But it is a tool which is also beginning to generate excitement within the social sciences, given the depth of data that it can generate. In particular, the historical context which it provides enables us to understand how and when certain behaviours and attitudes may have originated or changed, in addition to information about current practices and behaviours which more traditional psychological approaches provide. The present study was therefore conducted in order to evaluate the possibilities of using the life histories methodology to examine outdoor behaviours. Specifically, the Outdoors and Health Network identified the need to understand why people use greenspace regularly, in order to find ways in which to increase the use of those who seldom utilise these psychologically and physically beneficial areas (e.g. Maas, Verheeij, Groenewegen, de Vries, & Spreeuwenberg, 2006; Ulrich, 1984). Four women aged between 40-55 years were recruited, each of whom reported to regularly carry out one of the following outdoor activities: 1) Gardening / working on allotment; 2) Walking / hiking in areas of wild or spectacular landscapes; 3) Visiting outdoor sites / gardens; 4) Running or dog walking. A variety of activities were chosen in order to test the effectiveness of the methodology at examining different types of outdoor experiences and life histories. Additionally, a woman of the same age group, who reported to use greenspace infrequently, was selected. Participants then took part in a life history interview which lasted between 1-2 hours. The present paper presents results from the study and discusses experiences and applications of using this methodology. We would suggest that this methodology has potential to add to the existing body of knowledge which examines how people interact with their environment, as well as how these interactions may be formed and changed.

Environmental degradation and Climate change is rarely a subject of labour studies. Likewise, environmental studies limit themselves mostly to CSR and to changing consumption, without taking the work process and workers’ rights into account. Our research project conducts an investigation of the relationship between labour and the environment and environmental policies in a north-south perspective. The proposed paper presents first results from an investigation of the ways in which trade unions in the Global North and South are developing policies towards environmental degradation and Climate Change. The paper will focus on what we see as the two main contradictions facing trade union policies globally: 1. The way in which workers of the South and the North are set against each other as competitors for jobs through the relocation processes of Transnational Corporations, 2. The apparent contradiction between protecting jobs and protecting the environment with which trade unions are confronted when environmental measures are not accompanied by social measures. We will discuss the barriers unions face in overcoming these contradictions and analyse the policies they are developing to combine social and environmental sustainability: ‘Green Jobs’ and ‘Just Transition’. The empirical bases are 32 semi-structured interviews with unionists in international, regional, national and local trade unions from Sweden, the UK, Brazil, South Africa, and Malaysia, participant observation in several Trade Union conferences and policy documents of unions internationally and nationally.

Lay appraisals of risk rely not so much on perceptions of risk per se as on the social representations of the risks at stake (Joffe, 2003). In the case of zoonoses, i.e. diseases which can be transmitted from animals to humans, perceptions of risk may be anchored in the social representations of animals and in the social practices that put humans at risk from animals. The animals' perceived utility to humans, their status in the human culture, and the wider ideology of speciesism (Singer, 1990) can influence the perceptions of risk of zoonoses. The present research investigated how people perceived danger and risk of zoonoses from animals, and explored whether presenting animals in images vs. text would influence the perceptions of risk. A card-sorting task was adopted, its open-ended format allowing the researchers to explore the reasoning behind the sorting of the elements. 25 target animals, including insects, mammals, and arachnids, were represented in both text and image cards, but separately. 12 participants were allocated to one of the two conditions, and completed 3 free and 3 structured sorts, the latter asking them to sort the animals in terms of their dangerousness, their likelihood of transmitting disease, and the emotions that they aroused in the participants. The results provide a pictorial representation of the extent to which the elements were viewed as similar or as different to each other. In both the danger and the disease sorts, the insects and the arachnids were grouped together and separately from the mammals, regardless of the study condition. The animals' perceived likelihood to transmit disease was underpinned by their categorization as dirty and as scavenger in the free sorts. More animals were perceived as likely to transmit disease in the image than in the text condition. In this talk we will reflect on the implications of using text vs. images in relation to the research on risk of zoonoses. We will discuss the results in relation to the social and ideological contexts in which the social representations of animals and the risk of zoonoses are constructed.

The countryside is simultaneously a working environment and a place with recreational and restorative benefits. This poses a range of dilemmas for those responsible for managing potential risks both to those that work and those that visit. One key dilemma relating to visitors in particular concerns the requirement to warn and to encourage appropriate behaviour, without causing alarm. The present research explored the perception and management of hazards in the countryside from the perspective of forest managers who have responsibility for staff and public safety. Individual telephone interviews with 17 forest managers from across the UK explored their perception of forest hazards and risk, and their experience of communicating these to staff and the public. The analysis was informed by thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and discursive psychology (Edwards & Potter, 1992) as we were interested in the construction of ‘forest hazards and risks’ in talk and in strategies of justification and attribution. Participants distinguished between different categories of hazard, such as natural vs. man-made. Both patterns of responsibility for risk management and constructions of likely responsiveness to risk communication varied between staff and the public. Public facing risk communications strategies were underpinned by a balancing act between managing risks and informing the public without causing unnecessary alarm.

Many people take great pleasure in spending time in the great outdoors and still more are being encouraged to visit green spaces to improve their health and well-being. Although considerable evidence supports the benefits of spending time in the countryside, little is known about how best to warn visitors of potential risks and encourage appropriate behaviour without causing alarm. With a focus on Lyme disease, an interdisciplinary research team is exploring the possible impact of zoonotic diseases on the development of recreation in rural areas, within an overarching framework of risk communication. Lyme disease (also known as Lyme borreliosis) is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. Lyme disease is found in a number of wild animal hosts and can be transferred to humans by infected ticks. It is important to understand how individuals, groups and organizations respond to the risk of zoonotic diseases in order to improve the provision of risk information and the strategies of risk communication. The presentations in this symposium will focus on visitors’ actual behaviour in the countryside, visitors’ perceptions of zoonotic risk, and on organizations’ communication strategies in relation to zoonoses. Overall, this session will advance our understanding of risk perceptions and risk behaviour among visitors and organizations strategies of risk communication. How does visitors’ behaviour expose them to risk of Lyme disease? The first presentation will focus on people’s risk awareness and landscape preference assessed via GPS tracking and behavioural observations. This research explores the spatial use by recreational users and associated levels of preventative behaviour, and will lead to the development of an agent-based model of potential risk of contact between users and ticks. Are visitors aware of Lyme disease and where do they place ticks among other countryside hazards? The second presentation will draw on individual interviews conducted with visitors in the countryside to explore visitors’ perceptions of risk of Lyme disease and their attitudes towards risk communication. This research maps the visitors’ denial of hazards in restorative environments such as parks and countryside, and their optimistic bias regarding their own invulnerability to Lyme disease. The implications of the visitors’ lack of receptivity to risk communication will be discussed. How do forest and countryside organizations provide information about zoonotic risks to their visitors? An analysis of leaflets on ticks and Lyme disease and 20 semi-structured interviews with organization representatives give insight into the current understanding of the disease and preferred methods for information provision. Overall, the results indicate a lack of clarity within organisations as to where risk information is held and how it is provided. The implications for the communication of zoonotic risk will be discussed.

Social representations of causes of illness can have an impact on prevention and treatment, such as in the case of Lyme disease which is transmitted by ticks. The present research investigated how people conceptualized ticks in relation to other arachnids and insects, and whether presenting ticks in image vs. text would have an impact on their anchoring. A card-sorting task was adopted, its open-ended format allowing the researchers to explore the reasoning behind the sorting of the elements. 25 cards were generated, including ticks, insects, mammals, and other arachnids A pilot study had indicated that ticks were mostly associated with insects, disgust, fear, blood-sucking, and disease. These were represented in both word and image cards, but separately. 12 participants were allocated to one of the two conditions, words vs. images, and completed 3 free and 3 structured sorts, the latter asking them to sort the elements in terms of their dangerousness, their likelihood of transmitting disease, and the emotions they aroused. The results provide a pictorial representation of the extent to which the elements were viewed as similar or as different to each other. The animals’ perceived likelihood to transmit disease was underpinned by their categorization as dirty and as scavenger in the free sorts. The insects and the arachnids perceived as likely to transmit disease were those that feed on human blood and skin. More animals were perceived as likely to transmit disease in the image than in the text condition. In this talk we will reflect on the implications of using text vs. images in relation to risk imagery research.

Objectives: Theoretical linkage has been made between identity and transport-related behaviour but the extensive implications have yet to be explored empirically. The current research programme aims to provide evidence for the influence of identity on personal transportation, specifically how identity threats may affect the intention to resist or to engage with change to travel behaviour. As part of the larger research programme, this study focuses on resistance to change. Drawing on Identity Process Theory, it hypothesises that identity threat is related to resistance to change travel behaviour, over and above psychological reactance. Design: In order to evoke threat while complying with ethical guidelines, participants were asked to rate their intention to change their travel behaviour in response to 12 vignettes. Each vignette presented a short description of a travel-related situation. Half of the vignettes were designed to invoke identity threat and half were designed as neutral. Method: The study was administered nationally to 300 urban working parents. Baseline measures included intention to change travel behaviour, trait reactance, affect, salience and centrality of identities. Analyses tested for significant differences between neutral and threat-inducing vignettes and between threat-inducing vignettes that tap or do not tap reactance. In addition, intention to change was regressed onto identity salience, identity centrality and trait reactance. Results: Pilot data and initial results from the full study data are presented. Conclusions: Recommendations are suggested, based on Identity Process Theory, for reducing resistance to change travel behaviour.

Libraries as settings for studying have changed with the arrival of new technologies and as places where studying is not necessarily a solitary activity but may involve social interaction. Libraries now contain a diversity of spaces which aim to have particular properties that enhances the study experience, such as ‘coziness’. Coziness may be intuitively understood by architects, designers and users alike as a positive quality of a space but is rarely defined. A multiple sorting procedure in conjunction with interviews with a sample of University students who were regular users (both social and solitary) of a University Library enabled the identification of the psycho-physical properties of coziness. Library spaces are experienced as cozy when they are seen to be attractive aesthetically; functionally comfortable in terms of meeting students’ needs for private and social learning; emotionally comfortable affording feelings of control, safety, and affection; and physically and socially warm.

In this paper we describe a design-orientated field study in which we deploy a novel digital display device to explore the potential integration of teenage and family photo displays at home, as well as the value of situated photo display technologies for intergenerational expression. This exploration is deemed timely given the contemporary take-up of digital capture devices by teenagers and the unprecedented volume of photographic content that teens generate. Findings support integration and the display of photos on a standalone device, as well as demonstrating the interventional efficacy of the design as a resource for provoking reflection on the research subject. We also draw upon the theoretical concept of Dialogism to understand how our design mediates intergenerational relationships and interaction aesthetics relating to the notion of ‘constructive conflict’.

Combating climate change will increasingly impact on production industries and the workers they employ as production changes and consumption is targeted. Yet research has largely ignored labour and its responses. This book brings together sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, historians, economists, and representatives from international and local unions based in Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Taiwan, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the USA. Together they open up a new area of research: Environmental Labour Studies. The authors ask what kind of environmental policies are unions in different countries and sectors developing. How do they aim to reconcile the protection of jobs with the protection of the environment? What are the forms of cooperation developing between trade unions and environmental movements, especially the so-called Red-Green alliances? Under what conditions are unions striving to create climate change policies that transcend the economic system? Where are they trying to find solutions that they see as possible within the present socio-economic conditions? What are the theoretical and practical implications of trade unions’ "Just Transition", and the problems and perspectives of "Green Jobs"? The authors also explore how food workers’ rights would contribute to low carbon agriculture, the role workers’ identities play in union climate change policies, and the difficulties of creating solidarity between unions across the global North and South. Trade Unions in the Green Economy opens the climate change debate to academics and trade unionists from a range of disciplines in the fields of labour studies, environmental politics, environmental management, and climate change policy. It will also be useful for environmental organisations, trade unions, business, and politicians.

In the past, environmental movements and labour movements have seen each other as opponents. Where labour movements have taken an interest in nature – in the first half of the 20th century - it was in the context of campaigning for spaces of recreation, and later as a necessary condition for a healthy life. In both cases nature has been constructed as ‘the Other’ of labour. The same can be said for environmental movements, which have aimed to defend, if not protect na ture ‘against labour’. This opposition has been mirrored in the academic field such that environmental studies have taken little account of labour; likewise, labour studies have largely ignored the environment. The authors argue that these oppositions are starting to be addressed within both the labour movement and academic research, largely as a response to the crisis of climate change which makes clear that both labour and the environment are threatened. Since environmental degradation and climate change are global issues the power relations between unions of the global North and South need to be tackled

The growth in motorised traffic on rural lanes in the UK has increased the dangers of, and dissuades people from, walking, cycling or horse riding on roads in the countryside. A UK Government initiative, "Quiet Lanes", aims to address this contra-sustainability development and make rural lanes safe and attractive for non-motorised users. Although traffic calming measures have been employed in urban areas, their translation into more environmentally sensitive rural areas has been problematic, largely on aesthetic grounds as they often have an urban appearance. Innovative solutions are necessary to reduce traffic speed but it would be prudent to assess experimentally the likely effectiveness and acceptability of any new measures before they are built. This paper discusses the use of simulated environments by means of manipulated colour photographs to predict changes in driving behaviour associated with changing road environments. It was found that respondents were able to differentiate between the different simulated engineering solutions and their suggested driving behaviour accurately reflected that associated with road use under similar conditions elsewhere. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

What does psychology tell us about attitude and behaviour change? • Overcoming traditional consumer resistance to change • Re-branding the waste management initiative and the public perception of recycling and recyclers

The desire of social scientists in general and psychologists in particular to contribute through research to climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and practices should not blind us to the theoretical, methodological and ethical issues such research raises. The emphasis by governments on reducing carbon emissions and arresting climate change has largely focussed on consumption i.e., those who are consuming goods and services rather than those who are producing them. As a consequence consumer focussed behaviour change is regarded as the policy option of choice by government. But do individualistic perspectives dominant in psychology deflect attention from the larger social, environmental, economic and political context? Does the current emphasis on coercive behaviour change strategies raise ethical issues concerning psychological interventions and the role of psychologists? Is the way research is currently framed on climate change awareness and concern telling us more about the problems of research methodologies rather than the problems of the environment and society? This paper critically and constructively addresses these questions and suggests a broader agenda for psychology's contribution to tackling the problem of climate change mitigation, adaptation and suffering.

Over the past decade the problem of climate change has become a prominent theme in policy, academia and civil society organisations. Various approaches to the problem have been suggested and developed, each of which draws upon certain intellectual traditions, contains particular assumptions and is subject to critique. Through presentations and discussion, this workshop seeks to reflect upon the logics, strengths and limitations of the dominant discourses and approaches linked to tackling climate change. Speakers at the workshop include: Elizabeth Shove, Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University- Sustainable Practices David Uzzell, Professor of Environmental Psychology, University of Surrey - Unsustainable Behaviours Kirsten Reeves, Centre of Expertise on Influencing Behavior, DEFRA. Dr. Kersty Hobson, Senior Research Fellow into the Social and Cultural Contexts of Environmental Change at Oxford University. - Informing and deliberating about climate change: impacts, discourses and some methodological limitations to researching public responses Joanne Swaffield, Newcastle University- Can ‘Climate Champions’ Save the Planet? A Critical Reflection on Neoliberal Social Change Luke Dilley, Newcastle University- Governing (Environmental) Conduct: Rationalities, Techniques and Technologies

Terence (Terry) Lee was not the first psychologist to see the importance of taking psychology out of the laboratory and putting it into the service of society in a practical way, but he was arguably the first in the UK to see the potential application of psychology to the problems of urban planning and the environment. Internationally, he was one of the first researchers to formulate a coherent, theoretically-led, research based analysis of how people make sense of their physical environment - a contribution which is due greater recognition. His contribution and foresight profoundly influenced the development of environmental psychology, and the lives of many who have worked in this field.

The flâneur is, as Baudelaire asserted, someone who walks the city in order to experience it (Benjamin, 1983, 50). It seems highly appropriate to begin this appreciation of Gabriel Moser’s work by reference to Baudelaire’s observations on the flâneur because they reflect some of the essential qualities that made Gabriel the environmental psychologist he was, not least of which his way of being in the world and his passions. Those who spent time with Gabriel walking through any city was aware that they were in the presence of an environmental psychologist who was fascinated by the world around him, alert to the minutiae of the street scene and everyday life, and always observing, interpreting and trying to make sense out of what he experienced. I write ‘experienced’, because Gabriel’s appreciation was multi-modal, and not limited to just what he could see. In this essay, I want to talk about Gabriel Moser as a flâneur drawing on three slightly different interpretations of the concept. I also want to embed the life and work of Gabriel Moser into the historical and cultural context of Paris. Paris was very important to Gabriel for his work, for his relationships and the way he was in the world.

Trade unions and researchers need to press for criteria other than Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to be taken into account for measuring social progress. International solidarity between unions is critical to be able to counterbalance the huge financial power of international companies in Small Island States and unions need to rethink the nature of the latter’s involvement in the ITUC. Climate change policies must be clear, evidence-based, transparent and free from any gender-distorting effects. In turn, academic research must be multifaceted, actiondriven, interdisciplinary, theory-driven and be the voice of the workers of the world.

On 23 September 2010, in his Joint British Academy/British Psychological Society Lecture, Professor David Uzzell argued that behaviour-change approaches to climate change need to take account of the societal context that gives rise to the values and attitudes that drive our behaviours. As consumers, our preferences and actions – and as a consequence our greenhouse gas emissions and the impact we have on the environment – are shaped by the products and oppor tunities we are offered, which create new desires and preferences. In the following extract, Professor Uzzell looks at the societal forces influencing our practices and identities as workers.

This review, like the model of psychology we advocate, looks to the past, present and future of environmental psychology. The chapter begins with a discussion of the importance of the socio-environmental context for human behaviour. Having demonstrated that the environment, far from being a silent witness to human actions, is an integral part of the plot, the chapter continues with an examination of the nature and scope of environmental psychology. Its interdisciplinary origins and applied emphasis have both conspired to prevent a straightforward and uncontentious definition of environmental psychology. We review some of these and suggest how recent definitions are beginning to adopt a more inclusive, holistic and transactional perspective on people-environment relations. The next section discusses the various spatial scales at which environmental psychologists operate - from the micro level such as personal space and individual rooms, public/private spaces and public spaces through to the global environment. This incorporates research on the home, the workplace, the visual impact of buildings, the negative effects of cities, the restorative role of nature, and environmental attitudes and sustainable behaviour. The third section takes three key theoretical perspectives which have informed environmental psychology - determinism, interactionalism, and transactionalism. - and uses these as an organising framework to examine various theories used by environmental psychologists: arousal theory, environmental load, adaptation level theory within a behaviourist and determinist paradigm; control, stress adaptation, behavioural elasticity, cognitive mapping and environmental evaluation within an interactionist paradigm; and behaviour settings, affordance theory and theories of place, place identity and place attachment within transactionalism.

Gibson's theory of affordances offers environmental psychology a method of examining the functional significance of environments for adolescents. The aim of this study was to develop rating scales that would measure the affordances of the home, neighbourhood, school and town centre for adolescents. The affordances measured related to two developmental needs in adolescence, the need for places of social interaction and for places of retreat. Five hundred and thirty-nine adolescents aged between 11 and 16 years rated the number of places available for 34 different affordances in each of the environments. The neighbourhood, school and town centre all supported both social interaction and retreat behaviours. The home environment did not support social interaction behaviours; it instead provided affordances for two different types of retreat, retreat involving close friends and retreat involving seeking out security. Gender and age differences in scale scores and how often the environments are used were also explored. In conclusion, utilising Gibson's theory of affordances enabled a systematic comparison of the affordances of adolescents' key environments to be carried out. Gibson's theory of affordances is a useful methodology for examining the functional significance of environments for different user groups. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.

With ever-increasing concerns about the consequences of climate change, households are an important focus for change. There is increasing pressure on households to change lifestyles and adopt behaviours that require less energy and natural resources. At the same time, retailers and producers of consumer goods aim to persuade people to consume more through commercial advertisements. Social science research examining sustainable behaviours often fails to examine the relative influence of both environmental concern and materialism simultaneously. Moreover, most of this research focuses on explaining or promoting behaviours with pro-environmental intent, thereby ignoring many consumer behaviours that may have a significant environmental impact. This article aims to address some of these shortcomings by examining the relationships between materialistic and environmental values and different consumer behaviours. Survey data from 194 individuals from 99 households were analysed. The findings show that quite a number of people express both relatively high levels of environmental concern and relatively high levels of materialism simultaneously. Moreover, materialism and environmental concern appear to be related to different types of behaviours. This raises important questions for the promotion of sustainable lifestyles, which may need to address not only environmental concerns but also materialistic concerns.

Based on the ideas of social and environmental psychology, this study explored the way colonial architecture affects people’s sense of national identity, with an emphasis on people’s perception and its transformation. For this study, Japanese colonial architecture built between 1910 and 1945 in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, was taken as a case study. By employing a life history approach as a methodology, this study found that colonial architecture and its relation to identity would be perceived from the various levels of context, such as personal, community and an institutional context. It also identified that various events in people’s lives and in the broader social context also play a crucial role in their perception of the architecture in relation to national identity today. This finding will be useful to scholars and cultural heritage and to urban practitioners who are concerned with historic architecture as a mediator of national identity.

Commissioned by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), the objective of the study was to assess the feasibility of identifying criteria that can be used to assess the visual impact of buildings in a manner that is not only acceptable and meaningful to developers and architects, but also to a broader audience that includes, amongst others, the public. The first stage of the research involved an extensive review of the literature and consultation with experts in both Europe and the United States in order to identify a comprehensive set of criteria that should be included in a visual assessment methodology. The second stage "tested" these criteria through interviews with developers, consultants, architects, planners, conservationists, and members of the public. It was concluded that although there are some differences between the various groups there are sufficient areas of overlap to make a visual assessment methodology feasible. However it is suggested that such a methodology should be process-oriented focusing on how rather than just whether criteria have been integrated into building planning and design.

In this paper we discuss the incidence of actual and perceived victimisation in people's recreational use of nonmotorised shared-use routes. Using the findings from eight focus groups, we show that, despite encountering very few conflictual situations when on shared-use routes, the fear of accidents and assaults has a significant impact on some people in some environments. The findings lend support to broader theorisations about people's insecurity when outside the home, where fear is an increasingly systemic reaction to the ways in which understandings of the public domain are shifting.