Environmental Sociology

Non solo “NIMBY”. Dall’analisi della stampa internazionale, alcune riflessioni critiche sull’uso dell’espressione “NIMBY” e degli altri acronimi impiegati nei discorsi pubblici sulle proteste locali - Not only “NIMBY”. From a content analysis of the international press, some critical considerations on the use of the term "NIMBY" and the other labels used in public discourse on local protests

by Giuseppe Tipaldo

forthcoming in 'Rifiuti Solidi'

Empirically based on the content analysis of 17 newspapers from 13 different countries, the paper aims at suggesting a... more Empirically based on the content analysis of 17 newspapers from 13 different countries, the paper aims at suggesting a more careful and precise use of the term NIMBY (from Not In My BackYard), in public discourses on local controversies and conflicts. After portraying the general situation of local protests in Italy, it is shown that NIMBY acronym, whose subtle ideological premises are sieved through in the article, is by far the most popular in the international press, despite the quite abundant range of more focused and up-to-date alternatives. An Anglo American literature on nimbism, relatively new for the Italian Social Sciences tradition, is eventually taken into consideration to reveal and critically discuss the tangle of senses, stakes, interests and ideologies of each linguistic label picked out by the newspapers analysis. 

Il contributo si propone di offrire una raccolta di riflessioni critiche, empiricamente fondate, per un impiego più cauto e puntuale del termine NIMBY (da Not In my Back Yard, ovvero “non nel mio giardino”), con il quale un’ampia componente di stakeholder coinvolti a vario titolo nell’insediamento delle cosiddette “grandi opere” (istituzioni politiche, mass media, saperi esperti) fa riferimento alle proteste delle comunità locali. Dopo aver chiarito estensione e principali coordinate dei conflitti ambientali nel contesto italiano, il lavoro si concentra sull’analisi del contenuto di 17 quotidiani internazionali, dimostrando che l’acronimo NIMBY, sottoposto ad attento vaglio critico nel corso del testo, è di gran lunga l’etichetta verbale più comune, a fronte di un patrimonio di occorrenze linguistiche piuttosto vasto e meglio attrezzato a tenere traccia delle più recenti evoluzioni del fenomeno. Dialogando con una letteratura di matrice anglo-americana che, almeno in Italia, si sta affermando soltanto in tempi recenti, la parte finale dell’articolo è interamente dedicata all’analisi ad intra delle singole occorrenze rintracciate, allo scopo di distinguere gli uni dagli altri, problematizzandoli, gli elementi di una composita matassa di significati, interessi e ideologie – inevitabilmente diversi, quando non in conflitto, tra loro – che attori istituzionali, mass media e senso comune sembrano per il momento cogliere solo in modo sommario.

Among «Bananas» and «Backyards»: what lays behind the opposition to mega-buildings projects?

by Giuseppe Tipaldo

accepted @ 8th National Conference of Sociologists of Environment - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Brescia - 23-24 September 2011

Based on social impact research and the possible NIMBY-effect of the Turin, Italy co-incinerator, this paper deals... more Based on social impact research and the possible NIMBY-effect of the Turin, Italy co-incinerator, this paper deals with risk perception, scientific literacy and their influence on attitude towards high-tech and controversial industrial plants.
The paper argues that plant and infrastructure settlements having a substantial ecological impact represent a highly sophisticated and diverse social phenomenon in which risk plays an important but not unique role. Taking into account some important concomitant variables (such as trust, mass media use, political culture in decision-making processes), it is first of all shown that risk is not a mono-dimensional concept, as is assumed by the psychometric tradition, and that two dimensions of the concept are to be found. The first “collective” dimension has a positive monotonic association with a critical attitude towards the co-incinerator, whereas the second and “individual” dimension has an unexpectedly negative correlation. It also demonstrates that scientific literacy has no statistical significance for attitude in our model, confirming the well-known limits of the so called “knowledge deficit” model.

«Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody!» Opposition against waste management projects: is there a lack of «civic culture»?

by Giuseppe Tipaldo

accepted @ International Conference on Integrated Urban Solid Waste Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna di Pisa - 14-15 June 2011
Topic: Social acceptability of waste management systems

When properly overlayed on a territorial map of Italy, the data developed each year by the Nimby Forum  shows... more When properly overlayed on a territorial map of Italy, the data developed each year by the Nimby Forum  shows that some form of protest exists for every major public work project in Italy. With increasing media interest in this theme, “NIMBY syndrome” (an idiomatic expression for “Not  In My Backyard”) has been used to describe this phenomonon and has now become part of everyday language, hinting that allegedly egotistical and localistic interests lay behind every oppositional reaction. Thus explaining away these protests as a sort of “civic culture” deficit.  Based on a more longitudinal research project still underway , this study intends to delve into the relationship existing between “civic culture” and local opposition to major public works by empirically studying the first waste co-incinerator project in Turin, Italy. Using a multitecniques approach, an extensive data set is laid out and analysed, the total evidence of which appears to define the limits of the “culturalist” explanation, even with notable differences between the levels of civic values (or civicness), social networks and trust.

Fear of the fire. The uneasy connection between Environmental Culture and Society in Waste Management in Italy

by Giuseppe Tipaldo

accepted @ ESA 2011 Conferenze - 7-10 September 2011
Panel Environmental Attitudes, Values and Awarness

Konflikt w polskim dyskursie ekologicznym: próba analizy

by Dorota Rancew-Sikora

«NIMBY»: definizione e critica di un concetto dell'analisi ambientale

by gennaro avallone

Habitabilidad, factor equiparable al desempeño ambiental para la sustentabilidad de la vivienda de interés social

by Adolfo Gomez Amador

co-authored with Gabriel Gómez Azpeitia en VI Cátedra Nacional de Arquitectura Carlos Chanfón Olmos. Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas. México, 2011.

El diseño arquitectónico implica un sistema complejo de decisiones cuyas consecuencias se extienden en el tiempo y en... more El diseño arquitectónico implica un sistema complejo de decisiones cuyas consecuencias se extienden en el tiempo y en el espacio. Si la sustentabilidad implica actuar en el presente y en la escala individual pensando en el futuro y a una escala global, la arquitectura sustentable será aquella que atienda al mismo tiempo las necesidades individuales e inmediatas de hábitat de los ocupantes atendidos en el presente con los derechos al mismo tipo de hábitat de los habitantes del planeta en el futuro. Para lograr satisfacer las necesidades individuales del presente con los derechos colectivos del futuro debe lograr el equilibrio entre la habitabilidad entre la habitabilidad y el desempeño ambiental. La consideración de la habitabilidad en la valoración de la sustentabilidad de los edificios, es pertinente dado que la búsqueda de un desempeño ambiental adecuado no debe implicar el sacrificio de las condiciones de habitabilidad. En la presente exposición se analizan los factores de habitabilidad que deben asegurarse para satisfacer las necesidades humanas.

El Habitante Actor y Lector de la Vivienda de Interés Social

by Adolfo Gomez Amador

The Inhabitant: Reader And Actor of Income Housing Space
Co-authored with Ana Rosa Velasco Ávalos. Published in “Arquitectura Ciudad Patrimonio y Medio Ambiente” Universidad de Colima, 2009

This research is proposed for the city of Morelia, where they started the first social housing, since the 1960's to... more This research is proposed for the city of Morelia, where they started the first social housing, since the 1960's to date, houses has been transformed in design and space organization, and in application of building materials, affecting not only the performance and interaction between built spaces and inhabitant, but also the internal comfort conditions as a result of the minimization of dimensions and the adjustments they made to housing.

Architectural Qualities for Violence-Free Houses: Case Colima, Mexico.

by Adolfo Gomez Amador

Co-authored with Gabriel Gómez Azpeitia et al, Published in "The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference, Tokyo, 27-29 September 2005 (SB05Tokyo) Proceedings".

We have analyzed several characteristics of 12 natural ventilated houses localized in a hot sub –humid climate in... more We have analyzed several characteristics of 12 natural ventilated houses localized in a hot sub –humid climate in Colima, Mexico. A correlation has been made between the qualities of this buildings and the occurrence of domestic violence in them. These houses were divided into two groups: one group of five houses whose inhabitants affirmed that they did not have violent events during the six previous months to the inquiry; the second group of seven houses whose inhabitants acknowledged some violent events during the same period. The violence was classified into four categories: psychological, intimidation, physical and sexual.
The architectural characteristics of these houses were analyzed based on four categories: territoriality, topology, bioclimate and semiotic. In territoriality we considered the availability and use of spaces within a house. In topology we explored the people circulation into the house, which may affect the intimacy of its habitants. In bioclimate we measured the indoor temperature and relative humidity. In semiotic we analyzed the order and color of the internal decoration.
The study shows the correlation — going from moderate to strong— between the buildings characteristics, their operative use, and their violence events. This correlation was found in situations such as the space where the inhabitants discuss important family issues (r=0.72), the amount of occupants in a bedroom (r=0.81), the connectivity between spaces according to their level of intimacy (r=0.62), the indoor temperature ranges (r=0.8), the maximum’s and minimum’s indoor temperatures (r=0.73 and r=-0.72), the color of walls, ceiling and floors (r=0.79 for brown, r=-0.65 for yellow, r=0.59 for gray, etc.) and the arrangement of furniture and decorative pieces (r=0.76).
We propose that the accurate design of certain architectural elements may reduce the possibility of violence, but that it is also possible to consider the existence of a pattern in the behavior allowing the occupants to perform several actions in their houses to achieve the best possible conditions, with more or less success.
This "environmental intelligence" seems to have a parallel functioning with "emotional intelligence" established by Salovey and Mayer (1990). Therefore, the human factor is a relevant element to consider in design of housing.

Switched Landscapes - Postcards, memories and gazes on the flatlands of the Tagus River

by Carlos Robalo

ROBALO, Carlos – Paisagens Trocadas: Postais, memórias e olhares sobre a lezíria do Tejo [Em linha]. Lisboa: ISCTE, 2009. Disponível em www:<http://hdl.handle.net/10071/1473&gt;.

With the fall of the rural world, landscapes regain a remarkable expression in the framing of the memory and in the... more With the fall of the rural world, landscapes regain a remarkable expression in the framing of the memory and in the construction of the imaginary of a society that redesigns its image and projects itself in time, past and future, and is forced to question its present.

In the demand of the Tagus Valley landscape representations, picture postcards were elected as primordial research source. To find them required a long and persisting course, identifying local collectors and getting their assent to study their collections, what has revealed new perspectives of inquiry, multiplying the odds of looking the site and its sought objects.

Defying us to examine the perspectives on the place, both in past and present, postcards are the axis of a research where we outlook the modulations of the gaze: the people’s gaze on their space and about themselves, on how they intend to be looked at by the others, how they see the others and how they are seen by them.

This way, it was intended to contribute to the identification of processes that determine the construction of a place, the delimitation of a territory, the recognition of a landscape, and hence, the production of a sense of belonging, where a situated identity is discoursed and represented.

Tales of transformation: The potential of a narrative approach to pro-environmental practices

by Sarah Hards

In press, available online. Please feel free to email and ask for a copy if you can't access it! (s.hards@iss.keele.ac.uk)

Individual lifestyles and practices play an important part in governmental strategies to improve environmental... more Individual lifestyles and practices play an important part in governmental strategies to improve environmental outcomes, both in the UK (DEFRA, 2008) and elsewhere. This often involves promoting actions deliberately aimed at reducing one’s environmental impact, or pro-environmental practices. However, our understanding of these practices has weaknesses; notably regarding the “Value-Action Gap” and the conditions promoting enduring change. This article explores how narrative methods could further our knowledge of pro-environmental practice. It illustrates the utility of the approach using the example of moments of sudden change, or “transformative moments”, in the lives of individuals who take action to address climate change. Drawing on three cases from an ongoing study, it uses narrative tools to explore the nature of these transformations, including the inter-related roles of context, information, emotions and relationships with other people. The discussion highlights tentative conclusions regarding these moments of sudden change, and offers suggestions for future research. Finally, it evaluates the utility of narrative approaches to pro-environmental practice, suggesting that despite some limitations, this method has significant potential to address unresolved issues in the field.

Losing Ground: Identity and Land Loss in Coastal Louisiana

by Todd Matthews

Book review in Environmental History (2011)

THE ENDURING CONFLICT OF 'JOBS VERSUS THE ENVIRONMENT': LOCAL POLLUTION HAVENS AS AN INTEGRATIVE EMPIRICAL MEASURE OF ECONOMY VS. ENVIRONMENT

by Todd Matthews

Sociological Spectrum (2011)

Environmental Reconstruction in Microsociological Theory for Microsociological Reconstruction in Environmental Sociology

by Brad Brewster

PhD Dissertation. Completed in 2011. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Done under the supervision of Michael Mayerfeld Bell.

I survey a collection of pedagogical resources in environmental sociology, including syllabi, textbooks, readers, and... more I survey a collection of pedagogical resources in environmental sociology, including syllabi, textbooks, readers, and handbooks, to show that what’s being taught and perpetuated as environmental sociology, via field-defining theories, is actually environmental macrosociology, leaving out the micro. I argue that pedagogical and theoretical problems follow from such one-sidedness. To correct for this imbalance, I turn to social psychological philosopher George Herbert Mead and microsociological theorist of everyday life Erving Goffman, reconstructing their theories in environmental terms. I show that, contrary to how Mead is often taught in sociology courses as well as how he is often portrayed in environmental sociology, Mead’s broad intellectual interests extended beyond social psychology to the natural world. In doing so, an “environmental Mead” is developed from his socio-environmental thought for a community psychology in environmental sociology. Then, beginning with a partly critical discussion of his view of animals, I move into discussions of how Mead's anti-dualistic philosophy creatively combined social and natural in various ways when it came to his view of objects, of mind, and of nature. Unlike Mead, Goffman was singularly and narrowly interested in everyday social interaction. The problem, then, was how to modify Goffman to environmental uses without losing the distinctive character of Goffman’s work. I address this by formulating a pragmatic construct for exporting Goffman to domains he himself had never been. Along the lines of this construct, then, an “environmental Goffman” is developed from his frame analysis for an environmental sociology of everyday life. I, then, explore applications of Mead and Goffman to fields in environmental studies or closely related to environmental sociology, namely, exploring Goffman’s dramaturgical, ritual, and interaction analysis in terms of community sociology and Mead’s holistic thought by comparison to ecosystem ecology. As a next logical step from the socially contextual, embedded approaches of the self in the community in Mead’s thought and of the self in the social situation in Goffman’s thought, I move up to the next level of analysis, the small group itself, to bring group dynamics into the environmental and conservation social sciences.

The Environmental Goffman: Toward an Environmental Sociology of Everyday Life

by Brad Brewster

Co-authored with Michael Mayerfeld Bell. Published in Society & Natural Resources 2010.

While environmental sociology has imported many macro theorists from the larger discipline, it has almost completely... more While environmental sociology has imported many macro theorists from the larger discipline, it has almost completely ignored Goffman. The primary project of this article is to fill that gap by proposing and initiating a Goffmaneque environmental sociology of everyday life, primarily through Goffman’s 1974 work, Frame Analysis. In doing so we address two issues central to environmentally relevant everyday experience: (1) the commonplace appreciation of “Nature,” such as that experienced at parks, on hikes, and being outdoors generally, and (2) the commonsensical notions of “nature” and “naturalness” as used in everyday conduct. In the first task, we make a contribution both to Goffman’s frame analytic theory and to environmental sociological theory with our notion of an out-in-nature frame. In the second task, we undertake to identify and formalize for environmental sociology instances implicit in Frame Analysis of how notions of nature mask social interests.

Wo steht die Risikosoziologie?

by Reiner Grundmann

Zeitschrift fuer Soziologie 28(1): 44-59

In der soziologischen Risikoforschung gibt es eine Kluft zwischen theoretischen und empirischen Analysen. Während sich... more In der soziologischen Risikoforschung gibt es eine Kluft zwischen theoretischen und empirischen Analysen. Während sich empirische Ansätze vor allem mit Aspekten der Risikowahrnehmung und sozialen Bewegungen beschäftigt haben, versuchten theoretische Ansätze das Problem in bestehende Großtheorien einzubauen oder auf normativ-politische Aussagen zu verkürzen. Dominante Analysen wie die von Beck und Luhmann zeigen ein Defizit an empirischem Gehalt. In jüngerer Zeit sind einige Arbeiten entstanden (vor allem im Bereich globaler Umweltprobleme), die theoretische Fragen mit empirischen Untersuchungen kombinieren. Dabei wird insbesondere die Frage nach dem Zusammenhang zwischen kognitiver Unsicherheit und politischen Entscheidungen berührt. Auf Basis dieser Arbeiten können drei Themenkomplexe identifiziert werden, die bislang nicht stark genug beachtet wurden: Erstens, daß Entscheidungen unter Unsicherheit besonders gravierende Probleme aufwerfen. Zweitens, daß die Rolle von Wissenschaftlern als gesellschaftspolitischen Akteuren als besonders wichtig eingestuft werden muß. Drittens schließlich wird argumentiert, daß die Sachdimension eine nicht zu vernachlässigende Größe darstellt.

Genomic natures read through posthumanisms

by Richard Twine

The Environmental Conflict in the Gibraltar Field, 1969-2005

by Jose Antonio Cerrillo Vidal

Published (in Spanish only) in HISTORIA ACTUAL ON-LINE Nº 27 (WINTER 2012), a digital journal of contemporary history edited by the University of Cádiz.

The Gibraltar Field region (located in Cadiz, southern Spain) hosts one of the country's most important industrial... more The Gibraltar Field region (located in Cadiz, southern Spain) hosts one of the country's most important industrial hubs, but at the same time has created a strong environmentalist reaction among the population, despite being their main source of wealth and employment. Moreover, the industrial workers are the ones who show a more pronounced environmental concern, wich contradices current research about this topic. Based on a qualitative study conducted in 2005, this paper tries to investigate into the causes of this particular configuration of environmental conflict in the Gibraltar Field, and discuss a paper previously published in this journal, which valued the development of the industrial complex only on the basis of the opportunity cost of not having opted for alternative models of development.

Zum Nexus von Vulnerabilität und Nachhaltigkeit

by Andreas Metzner-Szigeth

in: Banse, Gerhard; Janikowski, Ryszard; Kiepas, Andrzej (Eds.): Nachhaltige Entwicklung - transnational, Berlin (Edition Sigma) 2011, pp. 163-178

Im Ensemble der "neuen Aspekte des Konzepts der nachhaltigen Entwicklung" soll hier der Ansatz der... more Im Ensemble der "neuen Aspekte des Konzepts der nachhaltigen Entwicklung" soll hier der Ansatz der Vulnerabilität vorgestellt werden. Ihm kommt insofern eine wichtige Rolle zu, als er dazu geeignet ist, die Folgen des Klimawandels und Strategien des Umgangs mit ihnen systematisch aufzunehmen und konzeptionell zu integrieren, ebenso wie Katastrophenrisiken anderen Ursprungs. Darüber hinaus bietet er Anknüpfungspunkte, um Fragen der Bedrohung und Fragilität des gesellschaftlichen Lebens im Zusammenhang aller drei Dimensionen nachhaltiger Entwicklung zu thematisieren, also hinsichtlich der sozialen Dimension (gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt), der ökonomischen Dimension (wirtschaftliche Leistungsfähigkeit) und der ökologischen Dimension (ökologische Integrität). Anhand der Oderflut soll schließlich diskutiert werden, in welchem Maße das Thema Vulnerabilität für eine weitere bilaterale polnisch-deutsche Zusammenarbeit auf dem Gebiet der Förderung nachhaltiger Entwicklung interessant und weiterführend sein könnte.

The Climate Change Debate

by Reiner Grundmann

W.S. Bainbridge (ed.) Leadership in Science and Technology: A Reference Handbook, Sage, pp. 480-487