Socio-psychological aspects of grassroots participation in the Transition Movement: An Italian case study

In this article, we present a case study investigating the socio-psychological aspects of grassroots participation in a Transition Town Movement (TTM) community initiative. We analyzed the first Italian Transition initiative: Monteveglio (Bologna), the central hub of the Italian TTM and a key link with the global Transition Network. A qualitative methodology was used to collect and analyze the data consisting of interviews with key informants and ethnographic notes. The results provide further evidence supporting the role of social representations, shared social identities, and collective efficacy beliefs in promoting, sustaining, and shaping activists\u2019 commitment. The movement seems to have great potential to inspire and engage citizens to tackle climate change at a community level. Grassroots engagement of local communities working together provides the vision and the material starting point for a viable pathway for the changes required. Attempting to ensure their future political relevance, the TTM adherents are striving to disseminate and materially consolidate inherently political and prefigurative movement frames \u2013 primarily community resilience and re-localization \u2013 within community socio-economic and political frameworks. However, cooperation with politics is perceived by most adherents as a frustrating and dissatisfying experience, and an attempted co-optation of the Transition initiative by institutions. It highlights a tension between the open and non-confrontational approach of the movement towards institutions and their practical experience. Corresponding to this tension, activists have to cope with conflicts, contradictions, and ambivalence of social representations about community action for sustainability, which threaten the sense of collective purpose, group cohesion and ultimately its survival

Public engagement and social acceptability in energy system change: A socio-psychological analysis of a regional case study

The transition towards distributed low-carbon energy systems coincides with the introduction and materialization of renewable energy technologies (RETs) and associated infrastructures at the local level and implies a complex re-organization of the territories and a careful consideration of the relationship between energy sources and technologies and the local scale. Indeed, the design and effective implementation of energy policies and technologies require engaging multiple actors across scales in identifying measures ideally fitting with the given political, socio-cultural, economic and territorial contexts, building the acceptability and support of diverse publics. Social research on social acceptance of RETs and associated infrastructures has grown in the last decades proposing several conceptual frameworks. However, this literature still presents some limitations, such as the scarcity of studies on social acceptance of the whole energy system change instead of single technologies/projects. Moreover, studies often rely and focus only on a single level or dimension of social acceptance, notably community acceptance at the local level, or political and socio-economic acceptance at the national level. Thus, studies integrating market, socio-political and community aspects or triangulating/combining findings from different levels are limited. This thesis presents a longitudinal and multi-scalar investigation of public discourse and stakeholders’ perspectives on energy policies and technologies in the Marche region (Italy) by connecting public and institutional arenas. The research adopts Social Representations, Justice and Identity Theories and a discursive analytical approach to investigate public engagement and social acceptability in energy system change. The research consists of three studies: a longitudinal discourse analysis of the public sphere (2011-2017), involving document materials and naturalistic data (i.e. local media, political and public debates) to examine the historicity and territorialisation of RETs and related people’s responses; an analysis of public consultations and environmental assessments' reports (2015-2016) regarding the regional energy plan 2020 and twenty-two narrative interviews (2017-2018) with key informants and actors operating at different scales (i.e. policy, market, expert and civil society actors). The first study shows that people opposition to the territorialisation of RETs were motivated by different factors involving procedural (engagement, authorisation, regulation, guidelines, and assessment in RET deployment), distributional (environmental and social impacts, fit with place materiality and symbolic meanings, distribution of costs and benefits between places and actors) and recognition elements of justice (recognition and treatment of local communities and authorities). Moreover, the study found that different RETs are conceptualized as strongly intertwined, considering the distributed generation of RETs as a physical aggression and multiplication of impacts devastating the territory. Territorial features and memories of unsustainable economies (overbuilding and soil consumption, widespread industries and pollution, landscape disruption) played a great role in public conceptualization of and responses to RETs considered as aggravating environmental criticalities, putting at risk local economies based on agriculture and tourism and reinforcing distrust toward firms and politics. To face this situation, the Regional Government started a re-configuration process with the elaboration of energy and environmental policies by means of preliminary and inclusive participation. Despite the institutional participatory pathways have addressed many critical issues, enhancing the timely recognition and inclusion of different normative appraisals in planning and decision-making, and enhancing the overall quality and legitimacy of the plan, this remains constrained by different factors constraining the potential for a sustainable and effective implementation of the strategy and undermining socio-political, economic, and community acceptance. The findings are discussed in light of the theoretical, methodological and applied (policy) implications of the research on social acceptance and deliberative governance

Coping with Territorial Stigma and Devalued Identities: How Do Social Representations of an Environmentally Degraded Place Affect Identity and Agency?

This article examines people-place relationships in a carbon-intensive area-i.e., heavily dependent on the steel industry and marked by severe environmental degradation-involved in the EU Just Transition Mechanism (Taranto, Italy). Drawing upon a psychosocial perspective grounded on social representations theory, this article focuses on intertwining the sense of place, identity processes, and agency to understand the dynamics of place stigma and identity devaluation. In-depth semi-structured interviews with active residents were thematically and discursively analyzed. The results suggest both theoretical and applied insights. Overall, they highlight a widely shared negative representation of the place related to territorial stigmatization, ambivalent place attachments, and devaluation of place-based and social identities. To cope with such processes and dynamics, identity processes seem to act as self-protective mechanisms both at a personal and social level. The article concludes by inviting a more comprehensive conceptualization of just transition, harm restoration, and related territorial planning to include the psychosocial processes underlying the community's well-being and identity

Public engagement and social acceptability in energy system change: A socio-psychological analysis of a regional case study

The transition towards distributed low-carbon energy systems coincides with the introduction and materialization of renewable energy technologies (RETs) and associated infrastructures at the local level and implies a complex re-organization of the territories and a careful consideration of the relationship between energy sources and technologies and the local scale. Indeed, the design and effective implementation of energy policies and technologies require engaging multiple actors across scales in identifying measures ideally fitting with the given political, socio-cultural, economic and territorial contexts, building the acceptability and support of diverse publics. Social research on social acceptance of RETs and associated infrastructures has grown in the last decades proposing several conceptual frameworks. However, this literature still presents some limitations, such as the scarcity of studies on social acceptance of the whole energy system change instead of single technologies/projects. Moreover, studies often rely and focus only on a single level or dimension of social acceptance, notably community acceptance at the local level, or political and socio-economic acceptance at the national level. Thus, studies integrating market, socio-political and community aspects or triangulating/combining findings from different levels are limited. This thesis presents a longitudinal and multi-scalar investigation of public discourse and stakeholders’ perspectives on energy policies and technologies in the Marche region (Italy) by connecting public and institutional arenas. The research adopts Social Representations, Justice and Identity Theories and a discursive analytical approach to investigate public engagement and social acceptability in energy system change. The research consists of three studies: a longitudinal discourse analysis of the public sphere (2011-2017), involving document materials and naturalistic data (i.e. local media, political and public debates) to examine the historicity and territorialisation of RETs and related people’s responses; an analysis of public consultations and environmental assessments' reports (2015-2016) regarding the regional energy plan 2020 and twenty-two narrative interviews (2017-2018) with key informants and actors operating at different scales (i.e. policy, market, expert and civil society actors). The first study shows that people opposition to the territorialisation of RETs were motivated by different factors involving procedural (engagement, authorisation, regulation, guidelines, and assessment in RET deployment), distributional (environmental and social impacts, fit with place materiality and symbolic meanings, distribution of costs and benefits between places and actors) and recognition elements of justice (recognition and treatment of local communities and authorities). Moreover, the study found that different RETs are conceptualized as strongly intertwined, considering the distributed generation of RETs as a physical aggression and multiplication of impacts devastating the territory. Territorial features and memories of unsustainable economies (overbuilding and soil consumption, widespread industries and pollution, landscape disruption) played a great role in public conceptualization of and responses to RETs considered as aggravating environmental criticalities, putting at risk local economies based on agriculture and tourism and reinforcing distrust toward firms and politics. To face this situation, the Regional Government started a re-configuration process with the elaboration of energy and environmental policies by means of preliminary and inclusive participation. Despite the institutional participatory pathways have addressed many critical issues, enhancing the timely recognition and inclusion of different normative appraisals in planning and decision-making, and enhancing the overall quality and legitimacy of the plan, this remains constrained by different factors constraining the potential for a sustainable and effective implementation of the strategy and undermining socio-political, economic, and community acceptance. The findings are discussed in light of the theoretical, methodological and applied (policy) implications of the research on social acceptance and deliberative governance.La transizione verso sistemi energetici distribuiti e a basse emissioni di carbonio coincide con l’introduzione e materializzazione di impianti energetici basati sulle rinnovabili e infrastrutture associate a livello locale, richiedendo una complessa riorganizzazione dei territori e un’attenta considerazione della relazione tra fonti e tecnologie energetiche e la scala locale. Di fatto, la progettazione, elaborazione ed effettiva implementazione di progetti e politiche energetiche richiede il coinvolgimento di molteplici attori lungo diverse scale nell’identificare misure che idealmente si adattano con i contesti politici, socio-culturali, economici e territoriali, al fine di ottenere l’accettabilità e il supporto di diversi pubblici. La ricerca sociale sull’accettazione sociale delle rinnovabili e delle infrastrutture associate è cresciuta esponenzialmente nelle ultime decadi proponendo diverse cornici concettuali. Tuttavia, questa letteratura presenta tuttora molteplici limitazioni, quali la scarsità di studi sull’accettazione del cambiamento dell’intero sistema energetico piuttosto che delle singole tecnologie o progetti. Inoltre, gli studi si focalizzano spesso su un singolo livello o dimensione dell’accettabilità sociale, notoriamente l’accettabilità di comunità a livello locale, o accettabilità socio-politica e socio-economica a livello nazionale. Pertanto, studi che integrano aspetti di mercato, socio-politici e di comunità, o che triangolano e combinano risultati provenienti da diversi livelli sono limitati. Il presente lavoro di tesi presenta un’indagine longitudinale e multi-scalare del discorso pubblico e della prospettiva di molteplici attori in merito a politiche e tecnologie energetiche nella regione Marche (Italia) connettendo arene pubbliche e istituzionali. La ricerca combina la Teoria delle Rappresentazioni Sociali, con teorie dell’Identità e della Giustizia, e adotta un approccio analitico discorsivo nell’indagare i processi di partecipazione pubblica e accettabilità sociale nella trasformazione del sistema energetico. La ricerca è composta da tre studi: un’analisi discorsiva longitudinale della sfera pubblica (2011-2017) utilizzando materiali documentali e dati naturalistici (media locali, dibattiti pubblici e politici) al fine di indagare la storicità e territorializzazione delle rinnovabili e le relative risposte del pubblico; un’analisi delle consultazioni pubbliche e dei report di valutazione ambientale (2015-2016) inerenti il piano energetico e ambientale regionale 2020, e ventidue interviste narrative (2017-2018) con testimoni chiave e attori operanti su diverse scale (attori politici, di mercato, esperti e della società civile). Il primo studio evidenzia come le opposizioni locali alla territorializzazione delle rinnovabili siano motivate da diversi fattori che coinvolgono le dimensioni di giustizia procedurale (coinvolgimento, autorizzazioni, regolamentazione, linee guida, e valutazioni ambientali nella diffusione delle rinnovabili), distributiva (impatti ambientali e sociali, adeguatezza rispetto a materialità e aspetti simbolici dei luoghi, distribuzione di costi e benefici ) e di riconoscimento (riconoscimento e trattamento delle comunità e autorità locali). Inoltre, lo studio dimostra come diverse tecnologie siano fortemente intrecciate nelle concettualizzazioni del pubblico, considerando la generazione distribuita delle rinnovabili come un’aggressione fisica e moltiplicazione degli impatti che devastano il territorio. Le caratteristiche e memorie territoriali in merito ad economie non sostenibili (cementificazione e consumo di suolo, industria diffusa e inquinamento, interruzione del paesaggio) svolgono un ruolo importante nella concettualizzazione e risposta del pubblico alle rinnovabili, aggravando criticità ambientali e mettendo a rischio le economie locali basate su agricoltura e turismo e rinforzando la sfiducia nei confronti di aziende e politica. Al fine di affrontare questa situazione, l’Amministrazione Regionale iniziò un processo di riconfigurazione con l’elaborazione di politiche energetiche e ambientali attraverso processi partecipativi inclusivi e preliminari all’elaborazione. Nonostante i percorsi partecipativi abbiano affrontato diverse questioni critiche, migliorando il riconoscimento e l’inclusione tempestiva di diverse valutazioni nella pianificazione e presa di decisione, e migliorando la qualità e legittimità complessiva del piano, quest’ultimo rimane condizionato da diversi fattori che ne limitano il potenziale per un'attuazione sostenibile ed efficace della strategia e minano l'accettazione socio-politica, economica e comunitaria. I risultati sono discussi alla luce delle implicazioni teoriche, metodologiche e applicative (politiche) della ricerca in merito all'accettabilità sociale e alla governance deliberativa in materia energetica

Community involvement, public deliberation and environmental governance. Insights from Social Psychology

Public involvement has become a fundamental feature of the climate change policy agenda, emphasizing the need for participatory and deliberative mechanisms bringing together experts, policy-makers and community stakeholders in environmental management. The research interest in this field has grown over the years with a prevailing political approach. Nevertheless, in order to find effective strategies for the design, management and evaluation of participatory processes, the psychosocial aspects of public/stakeholder participation -remaining often on the background- deserve further attention (DevineWright, 2011). The contribution describes an ongoing project aimed to investigate the role of socio-psychological aspects of public participation -such as framing, identity processes and social representations- in shaping interaction and communication between actors within the deliberative processes. The project will investigate different case studies of public deliberation through a multi-method perspective, and different levels of analysis - social, situational and individual (Doise, 1989)-, referring to different theoretical perspectives linked together: psychosocial literature on participatory processes and deliberative democracy, the social representations' approach, the discursive and environmental psychology. Besides presenting the project, we explore what contribution the sociopsychological research can offer for a better understanding of public participation in sustainability policies

Dalla Marea Nera al Referendum. Un\u2019indagine esplorativa sulle rappresentazioni delle trivellazioni nei quotidiani online (2010-2016)

Lo studio si inserisce all\u2019interno della prospettiva teorica delle rappresentazioni sociali (Moscovici, 1961/76), da sempre interessata al ruolo che i media rivestono nella formazione delle conoscenze -in particolare su questioni tecnico-scientifiche. Le rappresentazioni sociali sono per loro definizione soggette ad un processo di continua trasformazione, frutto del confronto dialogico tra attori e gruppi sociali, i quali possono entrare in competizione al fine di ottenere maggiore riconoscimento nella sfera pubblica e rendere la propria prospettiva legittima (Howarth, 2006; Bauer e Gaskell, 2008). A questo proposito, i media provvedono non solo a selezionare e privilegiare determinati punti di vista, ma anche ad orientare l\u2019attenzione dei fruitori verso particolari problemi all\u2019ordine del giorno, e verso particolari ambiti e non altri (Bonnes e Sensales, 1998). Il contributo si propone di analizzare il modo in cui all\u2019interno dei quotidiani online vengono presentate e discusse le attivit\ue0 di estrazione dei combustibili fossili, note ai pi\uf9 come \u201ctrivellazioni\u201d, esaminando i modi in cui il tema viene declinato nei suoi aspetti. Il corpus di dati \ue8 costituito da 717 articoli pubblicati online da otto testate nazionali tra gennaio 2010 e aprile 2016, e raccolti all\u2019interno del progetto TIPS (Tecnoscientific Issues in the Public Sphere) dell\u2019Universit\ue0 di Padova. L\u2019analisi dei dati si \ue8 basata su metodi quali-quantitativi, con l\u2019ausilio dei software TalTac2 (Bolasco, 2013) e IRAMUTEQ (Ratinaud, 2009) attraverso strumenti di statistica testuale e text mining, operando un confronto tra le diverse testate, e prestando attenzione al variare delle rappresentazioni e della copertura mediatica nel corso del tempo. I risultati saranno discussi evidenziando come i lettori sono esposti e familiarizzati alle diverse posizioni sulle attivit\ue0 di estrazione di idrocarburi, e le possibili implicazioni in termini di partecipazione dei cittadini e di supporto alle politiche ambientali

Coping with Territorial Stigma and Devalued Identities: How Do Social Representations of an Environmentally Degraded Place Affect Identity and Agency?

This article examines people-place relationships in a carbon-intensive area—i.e., heavily dependent on the steel industry and marked by severe environmental degradation—involved in the EU Just Transition Mechanism (Taranto, Italy). Drawing upon a psychosocial perspective grounded on social representations theory, this article focuses on intertwining the sense of place, identity processes, and agency to understand the dynamics of place stigma and identity devaluation. In-depth semi-structured interviews with active residents were thematically and discursively analyzed. The results suggest both theoretical and applied insights. Overall, they highlight a widely shared negative representation of the place related to territorial stigmatization, ambivalent place attachments, and devaluation of place-based and social identities. To cope with such processes and dynamics, identity processes seem to act as self-protective mechanisms both at a personal and social level. The article concludes by inviting a more comprehensive conceptualization of just transition, harm restoration, and related territorial planning to include the psychosocial processes underlying the community’s well-being and identity

Designing Technology to Support Online Faculty Development Through Teaching Observation, Peer Feedback, and Collaborative Reflection: A Brief Literature Review

This paper presents a brief literature review on technologies and web-based tools for faculty development. It investigates what resources are available to higher education (HE) teachers to support online professional development (OPD) activities based on feedback, collegial discussion, collaborative reflection or teaching observation. From recent studies we note that collective reflection is effective when technologies are acted and used as a medium for collaborative professional learning, appropriately choosing and aligning technology with education purposes and teachers’ developmental needs, acknowledging the interrelations among technology, content and pedagogy. The paper provides a better understanding of the limits and potential of different technologies and how programmes of online faculty development can be designed to promote dialogical collaborative thinking