REPAiR: REsource Management in Peri-urban AReas: Going Beyond Urban Metabolism

Abstract

Task 3.3 of the REPAiR project is dealing with the linkages between socio-cultural and socio-moral features and social sensitiveness and awareness about general environmental issues, and particularly about waste and resource management. The basic assumption is that the different agents’ understandings and behaviors related to ecological sustainability and more specific natural environmental aspects are deeply embedded into certain, collectively accepted, respected and followed social values, norms, rules, conventions, customs and attitudes. Accordingly, these social patterns influence the agents’ way of thinking (perceptions and interpretations, i.e. concepts) and way of doing things (i.e. praxes) about environmental challenges. It is important to note that ‘agent’ in this research refers to both involved stakeholders (decision-makers, experts, experience-holders, etc.) and any member of the general population, therefore, the aforementioned hypothesis is assumed to be true regarding to expert and lay knowledge-holders as well.
To analyse this fundamental question and presumption, the research is focusing on four different tasks. Firstly, there is a theoretical phase that, based on certain value-concepts, aims to provide an explanatory framework for the general assumption. Secondly, Task 3.3 is dealing with a multi-phased comprehensive secondary socio-cultural analysis (SSCA) to investigate empirically the proposed theoretical linkages. Thirdly, the research provides a primer empirical analysis (PSCA) about the perceptions of different stakeholders on the relevancy of various factors and social, cultural and moral features for waste and resource management. Finally, a socio-economic analysis (SEA) aims to map out crucial aspects about each case study areas. Task 3.3 has a multilevel scope: the secondary socio-cultural inquiries are focusing on national level specificities, while the primer socio-cultural stage of the research and the socio-economic investigation is done on local (focus area) level.