IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i14p7711-d591785.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability Understanding and Behaviors across Urban Areas: A Case Study on Istanbul City

Author

Listed:
  • Hasan Fehmi Topal

    (Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Dexter V. L. Hunt

    (Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Christopher D. F. Rogers

    (Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

Abstract

The success of urban sustainability is very much dependent on a number of human factors. Therefore, it becomes even more important to explore how people understand urban sustainability and how they behave accordingly. Based on a formerly developed conceptual framework and on specified influencing factors, this study aimed to evaluate and elucidate the urban sustainability understanding and behavior of individuals in the city of Istanbul. This was assessed through the use of a quantitative questionnaire survey of 535 respondents. Therein, socio-psychological processes of sustainability understanding (i.e., determinants of awareness, perception, and attitude) and sustainability behaviors along with personality traits and influential factors were assessed and analyzed through the use of bivariate and multivariate methods (i.e., correlation tests, ANOVA, t -tests, and multiple linear regression). The results showed that sustainability awareness was more strongly correlated with attitude than perception, whereas behavior was found to be strongly correlated with both awareness and attitude and was (significantly) predicted by all determinants. The associations/influences of personality traits with determinants were found to be mostly insignificant. Conversely, for behavior, they were significant. The most influential factors found (in hierarchical ordering) were awareness of consequences, trust in society, social appraisement, world-mindedness, willingness to pay, trust in science and technology, ascription of responsibility, age and gender.

Suggested Citation

  • Hasan Fehmi Topal & Dexter V. L. Hunt & Christopher D. F. Rogers, 2021. "Sustainability Understanding and Behaviors across Urban Areas: A Case Study on Istanbul City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-38, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7711-:d:591785
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7711/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7711/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lin Zhang & Liwen Chen & Zezhou Wu & Hong Xue & Wenlin Dong, 2018. "Key Factors Affecting Informed Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Green Housing: A Case Study of Jinan, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, May.
    2. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    3. Douglas Noonan & Shan Zhou & Robert Kirkman, 2017. "Making Smart and Sustainable Infrastructure Projects Viable: Private Choices, Public Support, and Systems Constraints," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 2(3), pages 18-32.
    4. Anja Buerke & Tammo Straatmann & Nick Lin-Hi & Karsten Müller, 2017. "Consumer awareness and sustainability-focused value orientation as motivating factors of responsible consumer behavior," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 959-991, October.
    5. Peter Newton & Denny Meyer, 2013. "Exploring the Attitudes-Action Gap in Household Resource Consumption: Does “Environmental Lifestyle” Segmentation Align with Consumer Behaviour?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-23, March.
    6. Busic-Sontic, Ante & Czap, Natalia V. & Fuerst, Franz, 2017. "The role of personality traits in green decision-making," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 313-328.
    7. Darshana Rajapaksa & Robert Gifford & Benno Torgler & María A. García-Valiñas & Wasantha Athukorala & Shunsuke Managi & Clevo Wilson, 2019. "Do monetary and non-monetary incentives influence environmental attitudes and behavior? Evidence from an experimental analysis," Post-Print hal-03191523, HAL.
    8. Hasan Fehmi Topal & Dexter V. L. Hunt & Christopher D. F. Rogers, 2021. "Exploring Urban Sustainability Understanding and Behaviour: A Systematic Review towards a Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-33, January.
    9. Dong Guo & Zi Cao & Kelsie DeFrancia & Jiat Waye Genevie Yeo & Gilang Hardadi & Sen Chai, 2018. "Awareness, perceptions and determinants of urban sustainable development concerns – Evidence from a central province in China," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(6), pages 652-662, November.
    10. Murat Yalçıntaş & Melih Bulu & Murat Küçükvar & Hamidreza Samadi, 2015. "A Framework for Sustainable Urban Water Management through Demand and Supply Forecasting: The Case of Istanbul," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-18, August.
    11. Darshana Rajapaksa & Moinul Islam & Shunsuke Managi, 2018. "Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Role of Public Perception in Infrastructure and the Social Factors for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-14, March.
    12. Seok Kang, 2019. "Communicating sustainable development in the digital age: The relationship between citizens' storytelling and engagement intention," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 337-348, May.
    13. Guo Chao Alex Peng & Miguel Baptista Nunes & Luqing Zheng, 0. "Impacts of low citizen awareness and usage in smart city services: the case of London’s smart parking system," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-32.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tan Yigitcanlar, 2021. "Greening the Artificial Intelligence for a Sustainable Planet: An Editorial Commentary," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Dexter V. L. Hunt & Zeerak Shahab, 2021. "Sustainable Water Use Practices: Understanding and Awareness of Masters Level Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-29, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hasan Fehmi Topal & Dexter V.L. Hunt & Christopher D.F. Rogers, 2020. "Urban Sustainability and Smartness Understanding (USSU)—Identifying Influencing Factors: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-30, June.
    2. Hasan Fehmi Topal & Dexter V. L. Hunt & Christopher D. F. Rogers, 2021. "Exploring Urban Sustainability Understanding and Behaviour: A Systematic Review towards a Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-33, January.
    3. Samar Ben Romdhane & Sang Lee & Salem Al-Shaebi, 2023. "Enhancing Sustainability Communication among UAE’s Higher Education Students: The Relationship between Sustainable Living Knowledge and Intention to Live Sustainably," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-14, August.
    4. Chorong Youn & Hye Jung Jung, 2021. "Semantic Network Analysis to Explore the Concept of Sustainability in the Apparel and Textile Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-17, March.
    5. Tung Manh Ho & Hong Kong Nguyen-To & Thu-Trang Vuong & Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2017. "Social Network Sustainability Metrics: A Study of Co-authoring Behaviors in the Social Sciences, Using 2008-2017 Scopus Data for Vietnam," Working Papers CEB 17-027, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Tung Manh Ho & Hong Kong T. Nguyen & Thu-Trang Vuong & Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2017. "On the Sustainability of Co-Authoring Behaviors in Vietnamese Social Sciences: A Preliminary Analysis of Network Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-21, November.
    7. Gustavo Bermejo-Martín & Carlos Rodríguez-Monroy & Yilsy M. Núñez-Guerrero, 2020. "Design Thinking for Urban Water Sustainability in Huelva’s Households: Needfinding and Synthesis through Statistic Clustering," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-26, November.
    8. Yamane, Tomomi & Kaneko, Shinji, 2022. "The Sustainable Development Goals as new business norms: A survey experiment on stakeholder preferences," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    9. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    10. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    11. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.
    12. Jim Butcher, 2006. "The United Nations International Year of Ecotourism: a critical analysis of development implications," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 6(2), pages 146-156, April.
    13. Denise Ravet, 2011. "Lean production: the link between supply chain and sustainable development in an international environment," Post-Print hal-00691666, HAL.
    14. Mara Del Baldo, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in Italian SMEs: the experience of some “spirited businesses”," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(1), pages 1-36, February.
    15. Megan Devonald & Nicola Jones & Sally Youssef, 2022. "‘We Have No Hope for Anything’: Exploring Interconnected Economic, Social and Environmental Risks to Adolescents in Lebanon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    16. Rigby, Dan & Woodhouse, Phil & Young, Trevor & Burton, Michael, 2001. "Constructing a farm level indicator of sustainable agricultural practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 463-478, December.
    17. Michael Howes & Liana Wortley & Ruth Potts & Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes & Silvia Serrao-Neumann & Julie Davidson & Timothy Smith & Patrick Nunn, 2017. "Environmental Sustainability: A Case of Policy Implementation Failure?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, January.
    18. Shiferaw, Bekele & Holden, Stein, 1999. "Soil Erosion and Smallholders' Conservation Decisions in the Highlands of Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 739-752, April.
    19. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    20. Parnphumeesup, Piya & Kerr, Sandy A., 2011. "Stakeholder preferences towards the sustainable development of CDM projects: Lessons from biomass (rice husk) CDM project in Thailand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3591-3601, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7711-:d:591785. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.