Can We Barter Local Taxes for Maintaining Our Green? A Psychological Perspective

Previous research highlighted that the desire for neighborhood improvement is an antecedent of the citizens’ involvement in green urban areas maintenance. Nevertheless, the topic of civic participation in the maintenance of green areas is not yet well developed in the literature and a link with loca...

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Main Authors: Annalisa Theodorou, Angelo Panno, Mariagrazia Agrimi, Emanuela Masini, Giuseppe Carrus
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.816217/full
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author Annalisa Theodorou
Angelo Panno
Mariagrazia Agrimi
Emanuela Masini
Giuseppe Carrus
author_facet Annalisa Theodorou
Angelo Panno
Mariagrazia Agrimi
Emanuela Masini
Giuseppe Carrus
author_sort Annalisa Theodorou
collection DOAJ
description Previous research highlighted that the desire for neighborhood improvement is an antecedent of the citizens’ involvement in green urban areas maintenance. Nevertheless, the topic of civic participation in the maintenance of green areas is not yet well developed in the literature and a link with local legislation is missing. We investigate the intention of participation in such maintenance through a web-based experiment. We hypothesize that stimuli of poor (vs. good) maintenance will be associated with a higher intention of contributing to the upkeep of green areas following the administrative barter law. The administrative barter is a law approved in Italy, which gives citizens the possibility of a reduction of local taxes in exchange for their involvement in the improvement of the territory. One hundred ninety-six participants (Mage = 33.81) were assigned randomly to good maintenance condition (n = 100) or poor maintenance condition (n = 96). The level of maintenance was manipulated through photographs of a neighborhood depicting good or poor maintenance of the urban green ornamentation. Results pointed out that people showed a greater willingness to engage in the improvement of green urban areas in the poor condition as compared to the good condition, according to the administrative barter law. This study suggests that local legislation may provide an incentive fostering citizens’ involvement in green urban areas maintenance.
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spelling doaj.art-b29568bebaf8449a894af0dcac56debd2022-12-21T23:48:03ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-02-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.816217816217Can We Barter Local Taxes for Maintaining Our Green? A Psychological PerspectiveAnnalisa Theodorou0Angelo Panno1Mariagrazia Agrimi2Emanuela Masini3Giuseppe Carrus4Department of Education, Roma Tre University, Rome, ItalyDepartment of Human Science, European University of Rome, Rome, ItalyDepartment for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, ItalyDepartment for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, ItalyDepartment of Education, Roma Tre University, Rome, ItalyPrevious research highlighted that the desire for neighborhood improvement is an antecedent of the citizens’ involvement in green urban areas maintenance. Nevertheless, the topic of civic participation in the maintenance of green areas is not yet well developed in the literature and a link with local legislation is missing. We investigate the intention of participation in such maintenance through a web-based experiment. We hypothesize that stimuli of poor (vs. good) maintenance will be associated with a higher intention of contributing to the upkeep of green areas following the administrative barter law. The administrative barter is a law approved in Italy, which gives citizens the possibility of a reduction of local taxes in exchange for their involvement in the improvement of the territory. One hundred ninety-six participants (Mage = 33.81) were assigned randomly to good maintenance condition (n = 100) or poor maintenance condition (n = 96). The level of maintenance was manipulated through photographs of a neighborhood depicting good or poor maintenance of the urban green ornamentation. Results pointed out that people showed a greater willingness to engage in the improvement of green urban areas in the poor condition as compared to the good condition, according to the administrative barter law. This study suggests that local legislation may provide an incentive fostering citizens’ involvement in green urban areas maintenance.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.816217/fullurban ecosystem serviceurban ecosystem disservicelocal lawurban greengreen maintenancecivic participation
spellingShingle Annalisa Theodorou
Angelo Panno
Mariagrazia Agrimi
Emanuela Masini
Giuseppe Carrus
Can We Barter Local Taxes for Maintaining Our Green? A Psychological Perspective
Frontiers in Psychology
urban ecosystem service
urban ecosystem disservice
local law
urban green
green maintenance
civic participation
title Can We Barter Local Taxes for Maintaining Our Green? A Psychological Perspective
title_full Can We Barter Local Taxes for Maintaining Our Green? A Psychological Perspective
title_fullStr Can We Barter Local Taxes for Maintaining Our Green? A Psychological Perspective
title_full_unstemmed Can We Barter Local Taxes for Maintaining Our Green? A Psychological Perspective
title_short Can We Barter Local Taxes for Maintaining Our Green? A Psychological Perspective
title_sort can we barter local taxes for maintaining our green a psychological perspective
topic urban ecosystem service
urban ecosystem disservice
local law
urban green
green maintenance
civic participation
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.816217/full
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AT emanuelamasini canwebarterlocaltaxesformaintainingourgreenapsychologicalperspective
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