Concern or apathy: the attitude of the public toward urban air pollution

It is important to understand public attitudes when designing policy instruments to motivate actions. Attitude is partially socially constructed and thus must be studied locally rather than inferred from other settings. This study explored public attitudes toward air pollution among Beijing residents through interviews and thematic analysis. In contrast to previous studies mostly focusing on a certain dimension of attitudes, we attempted to show an initial picture of attitudes in three dimensions, knowledge and belief, perception and concern, and covert and overt behaviors, and identify underlying factors accounting for such attitudes. The results showed that the interviewees largely knew the sources and impacts of air pollution but also demonstrated misunderstandings; half of them perceived air pollution as ‘severe’ and three-fourths of them showed little concern about air pollution; their protective and mitigation responsive behaviors were inadequate. Factors affecting such attitudes, both existing and missing in current literature, were identified. Perceived air pollution is determined by sensory cues and imagination, and mediated by lived experiences and place identity. Lack of concern about air pollution can largely be explained by a feeling of uncontrollability and the crowding effect in competing for attention. This lack is further influenced by the perceived benefits of living in large cities, perceived fairness of the impact across the population, and perceived delay of the health impacts posed by air pollution. Protective behaviors, specifically wearing facemasks, are influenced by perceived severity, vulnerability, efficacy, and barriers. Mitigation behavior, which refers to reducing car use in this case, is discouraged by a lack of feeling responsible and by perceived inconvenience and ineffectiveness. At an academic level, the results of this exploratory study are expected to provide a base for further investigations of factors affecting public attitudes. From a policy perspective, the results should provide information for designing policy instruments to raise awareness and motivate actions to cope with air pollution.