The City-Identity-Sustainability (CIS) Research Network aims to investigate the relationship between several conditions and processes that shape social identity—such as the quality of the urban area, residents’satisfaction, community identification, and sense of cohesion—and the relationship between these factors, taken as a whole, and sustainability. The objective of the project was to determine whether the presence of these factors favors sustainability and, likewise, whether the absence of some of the factors impedes sustainability. The CIS Network carried out its research in seven sites in Latin America and Europe, using the same questionnaire in each setting and complementing it with local qualitative research. The results showed a reasonable fit to the structural models of the hypothesized relationships. In light of the results, the research network suggests social and environmental intervention strategies to promote sustainability. This article focuses on the theoretical construction of the models.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allende Landa, J. (1995). Desarrollo sostenible. De lo global a lo local [Sustainable development. From global to local]. Ciudad y Territorio, 3(104), 267-281.
2.
Bechtel, R. B. (1997). Environment and behavior: An introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
3.
Bentler, P. M. (1995). EQS Structural Equations Program manual. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software.
4.
Bonnes, M. (1998). The ecological shift, environmental sustainability and the “shifting balances”. In J. Teklenburg, J. van Andel, J. Smeets, & A. Seidel (Eds.), Shifting balances. Changing roles in policy, research and design (pp. 165-176). Eindhoven, the Netherlands: University of Eindhoven, EIRASS.
5.
Brandt, W. (1981). Informe de la Comisión Brandt [Brandt Commission Report]. Mexico City: Nueva Imagen.
6.
Brundtland, G. H. (1987). Our common future (Report for the World Commission on Environment and Development, United Nations). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
7.
Castells, M. (1987). Reestructuración económica, revolución tecnológica y nueva organización del territorio [Economic restructuring, technologic revolution and new organization of regions]. Documentación social, 67, 43-68.
8.
Castells, M. (1996). The information age: Economy, society and culture. The rise of network society. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
9.
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona . (1998). The sustainable city. Barcelona, Spain: Author.
10.
Cobb, J. B. (1995). Toward a just sustainable economic order. Journal of Social Issues, 51(4), 83-100.
11.
Corraliza, J. A. (1998). Human behavior and ecological crisis: Social and psychological dimensions. Bulletin of People-Environment Studies, 11, 36-40.
12.
Deutsch, M. (1949). A theory of cooperation and competition. Human Relations, 2, 129-152.
13.
Engels, F. (1974). El problema de la vivienda y las grandes ciudades [The problem of housing and big cities]. Barcelona, Spain: Gustavo Gili. (Original work published 1848)
14.
European Commission . (1993). Towards sustainability. The European Community Program of policy and action in relation to the environment and sustainable development (better known as The Fifth EC Environmental Action Program) [Online]. Retrieved May 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/actionpr.htm
15.
Feldman, R. M. (1990). Settlement-identity: Psychological bonds with home places in a mobile society. Environment & Behavior, 22(2), 183-229.
16.
García, I. , Giuliani, F., & Wiesenfeld, E. (1994). El lugar de la teoría en psicología social comunitaria: Comunidad y sentido de comunidad [The place of theory in community social psychology: Community and sense of community]. In M. Montero (Coord.), Psicología social comunitaria (pp. 75-102). Guadalajara, Mexico: Universidad de Guadalajara.
17.
Gardner, G. T. , & Stern, P. C. (1996). Environmental problems and human behavior. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
18.
Hoggs, M. , & Abrams, D. (1988). Social identifications. A social psychology of intergroup relations and group processes. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
19.
Hunter, A. (1987). The symbolic ecology of suburbia. In I. Altman & A. Wandersman (Eds.), Neighbourhood and community environments, human behaviour and environment (Vol. 9). New York: Plenum.
20.
International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives . (1994). Charter of European cities and towns towards sustainability. The Aalborg Charter [Online]. Available: http://www.iclei.org/europe/echarter.htm
21.
Korosec-Serfaty, P. (1976). The appropriation of space. Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium: University of Louvain-la-Neuve, CIACO.
22.
Lalli, M. (1988). Urban identity. In D. Canter (Ed.), Environmental social psychology (NATO Advanced Studies Institute Series, Behavioral and Social Sciences) (pp. 303-311). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
23.
Lalli, M. (1992). Urban related identity: Theory, measurement, and empirical findings. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 12(4), 285-303.
24.
Lee, S.Y. , Poon, W. Y., & Bentler, P. M. (1992). Structural equation models with continuous and polytomous variables. Psychometrika, 57, 89-105.
25.
Lefebvre, H. (1971). De lo rural a lo urbano [From the rural to the urban]. Barcelona, Spain: Península. (Original work published 1970)
26.
Levi, L. , & Anderson, L. (1975). Psychosocial stress: Population, environment and quality of life. Holliswood, NY: Spectrum.
27.
Levy-Leboyer, C. , & Duron, Y. (1992). Global change. New challenges for psychology. International Journal of Psychology, 26(5), 575-584.
28.
Lewin, K. (1965). Group decision and social change. In H. Proshansky & B. Seidenberg (Eds.), Basic studies in social psychology (pp. 423-437). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (Original work published 1947)
29.
Lynch, K. (1960). La imagen de la ciudad [The image of the city]. Barcelona, Spain: Gustavo Gili.
30.
Malthus, T. R. (1966). Primer ensayo sobre población [First essay on population]. Madrid, Spain: Alianza. (Original work published 1798)
31.
Martínez-Alier, J. (1992). De la economía ecológica al ecologismo popular [From ecological economy to popular environmentalism]. Barcelona, Spain: Icaria.
32.
McKenzie-Mohr, D. , & Oskamp, S. (1995). Psychology and sustainability: An introduction. Journal of Social Issues, 51(4), 1-14.
33.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self & society. From the standpoint of social behaviorism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
34.
Meadows, D. H. , Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. (1972). The limits to growth. New York: New American Library.
35.
Moreno, E. , & Pol, E. (1999). Nociones psicosociales para la intervención y la gestión ambiental [Psychosocial notions for environmental intervention and management] (Monografies Socio/Ambientals, Vol. 14). Barcelona, Spain: University of Barcelona.
36.
Moser, G. , Pol, E., Bernard, Y., Bonnes, M., Corraliza, J., & Giuliani, M. V. (Eds.). (2000). Metropolis 2000: Which perspectives? Cities, social life and sustainable development. (Monografies Socio/Ambientals, Vol. 16) [CD-ROM]. Barcelona, Spain: University of Barcelona.
37.
Olson, R. (1995). Sustainability as a social vision. Journal of Social Issues, 51(4), 15-35.
38.
Pol, E. (1996). La apropriación del espacio [Space appropriation]. In L. Íñiguez & E. Pol (Comps.), Cognición, representación y apropriación del espacio. (Monografies Psico/Socio/Ambientals, Vol. 9, pp. 45-62). Barcelona, Spain: University of Barcelona.
39.
Pol, E. (1997a). Entre el “idílico pasado” y el “cruento ahora”. La psicología ambiental frente al cambio global [Between the idyllic past and crude present. Environmental psychology in the global change]. In R. García-Mira, C. Arce, & J. M. Sabucedo (Comps.), Responsabilidad ecológica y gestión de los recursos ambientales (pp. 315-340). A Coruña, Spain: Diputación Provincial de A Coruña.
40.
Pol, E. (1997b). Symbolism a priori—Symbolism a posteriori. In A. Remesar (Ed.), Urban regeneration. A challenge for public art (Monografies Psico/Socio/Ambientales, Vol. 6, pp. 71-76). Barcelona, Spain: University of Barcelona.
41.
Pol, E. (1999). Sostenibilitat, valors socials i comportament humà. Estratégies i contradiccions [Sustainability, social values and human behavior. Strategies and contradictions]. In R. Folch, T. Franquesa, E. Pol, E. Ferreres, R. Díez Hochleitner, & R. Margalef (Eds.), Desenvolupament sostenible. Els llindars en la construcció de les relaciones humanes i el medi ambient.Pensaments (Vol. 7, pp. 45-66). Lleida, Spain: Universitat de Lleida.
42.
Pol, E. (2002). Environmental management. In R. Bechtel & A. Churchman (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology.
43.
Proshansky, H. M. , Fabian, A. K., & Kaminoff, R. (1983). Place identity: Physical world socialization of the self. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3(1), 57-83.
44.
Rapoport, A. (1974). Aspectos de la calidad del entorno [Features of environment quality]. Barcelona, Spain: La Gaya/Collegi Oficial de Arquitectes de Catalunya i Balears.
45.
Ricardo, D. (1971). Principles of political economy and taxation. London: Penguin. (Original work published 1821)
46.
Sarason, S. B. (1974). The psychological sense of community. Prospects for a community psy chology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
47.
Sherif, M. , & Sherif, C. W. (1953). Groups in harmony and tension. An integration of studies on intergroup relations. New York: Harper.
48.
Stern, P. C. (1992). Psychological dimensions of global environment change. Annual Review of Psychology, 43, 269-302.
49.
Stern, P. C. , & Easterling, W. E. (1999). Human dimensions of climate variability. Washington, DC: National Academic Press & World Scientific Publishing.
50.
Stokols, D. , & Shumaker, S. A. (1981). People in places: A transactional view of settings. In J. H. Harvey (Ed.), Cognition, social behavior and the environment. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
51.
Tajfel, H. (Ed.). (1978). Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations. New York: Academic Press.
52.
Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
53.
Tajfel, H. , & Turner, J. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7-24). Chicago: Nelson.
54.
Turner, J. C. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
55.
United Nations . (1992). Rio Declaration on Environment and Development [Online]. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro. Available: http://www.earthcharter.org/resources/riodeclar_en.htm
56.
United Nations Division for Sustainable Development . (1999). Agenda 21 [Online]. Retrieved May 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/agenda21text.htm
57.
Valera, S. (1993). El símbolisme en la ciutat. Funcions de l’espai simbólic urbà [Symbolism in the city. Functions of symbolic urban space]. Doctoral dissertation, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
58.
Valera, S. , & Pol, E. (1994). El concepto de identidad social urbana. Una aproximación entre la psicología social y la psicología ambiental [The concept of urban social identity. Approximation between social and environmental psychology]. Anuario de Psicología, 62(3), 5-24.
59.
Winter, D. (1996). Ecological psychology: Healing the split between planet and self. New York: HarperCollins.
