Identifying key elements of environmental citizenship (Case study: Citizens of Tabriz)

Introduction
In today's world, citizenship is one of the concepts that is related to the social and cultural environment on the one hand and as a dominant phenomenon of globalization on human coexistence and cultural, political, economic and social interactions on the other hand. Due to the uncontrolled growth of the physical space of Tabriz metropolis and also due to experiencing a series of environmental crises (drying of Lake Urmia in the west of this city and decreasing groundwater level), Coming of industrial estates in four geographical directions and polluting due to industries such as; Power plants, refineries, machinery, tractors, etc., the destruction of gardens around this metropolis and the transformation of gardens and surrounding farms into dry and lifeless apartments from achieving sustainable urban development and transformation It is a long way from a green society. Finally, regarding the importance and necessity of "identifying the key factors (drivers) of environmental citizenship", he also pointed out that culture-building for the environment should be considered not only as an economic factor, but also as a cultural perspective. Pay attention. In fact, the main issue of the present study is: What are the key factors (drivers) that determine environmental citizenship?
Table (1): Problem Solving at a Glance (Research Strategy)




The main research question: What are the key factors (drivers) that determine environmental citizenship?




The main purpose of this research is to identify the key factors (drivers) of environmental citizenship




Research questions


Research objectives


Research method


Tools used in research




What are the key drivers of environmental citizenship?


Identify the drivers and influential trends of environmental citizenship


Futurology
Review previous research
In-depth interviews


library resources
questionnaire
Mick Mac software




 


 


What are the influential dimensions of environmental citizenship?


Identify the effective dimensions of environmental citizenship in order of importance




Table Source: Researchers' Findings 2019.
The philosophy of the environmental citizen is based on these principles: People are part of the environment. The future depends on a healthy environment. Seriousness in environmental behavior is necessary. A healthy environment is what people want, and informed voters will be healthier and more successful in creating an environment (Basby, 2007). According to Dobson, in a sustainable perspective, an environmental citizen has a responsibility to work in the community to achieve sustainable development; And that includes all the activities that each person normally has as a citizen who is dependent on a healthy environment (which includes recycling, reconstruction, renewal and service to the environment). انجام is responsible for doing them (Dobson, 2007). An environmental citizen is a citizen who seeks to strike a balance between his or her responsibilities to the environment and existing laws. The term environmental citizen was developed by Hungerford and Volk (1990). They consider the environmental citizen to be:
 1) is aware of and sensitive to the environment and its problems;
2) has a clear understanding of the environment and its problems;
 3) has a sense of concern for the environment and has sufficient motivation to actively participate in improving and protecting the environment;
4) Has the necessary skills to identify and solve environmental problems
5) In order to solve environmental problems, has active participation at all levels (Barakpour and Jahansir, 2016: 56).
Summarizing and criticizing the studies, it is stated that; Despite the importance and role of environmental citizenship in sustainable development, cultural factors related to it and despite acknowledging the relationship between variables such as: environmental lifestyle, environmental awareness or literacy, environmental attitude, environmental behavior, Responsible and sustainable consumption, environmental concern and environmental ethics, consumerism, cultural investments (Azadkhani et al., 2018; Lotfian and Nasri Fakhrdavood, 2018; Mohammadi ‌Dehcheshmeh and Azadbakht, 2018; Moradi, 2017; Hajizadeh Meymandi and Falakuddin, 2017; Rastegar Khalid et al., 2017; Rezaei et al., 2017; Kabiri and Karimzadeh Rezaieh, 2017, Hemmati et al., 2017; Mashhadi, 2016; Fathi et al., 2015; Hemmati and Sheberi, 2015; Holden, 2015; Reynolds et al., 2015; Betagol and Merritt, 2013; Lavin and Stroop, 2012) With environmental citizenship, it can be concluded that in our country, Iran in Less research has been done on the key factors (drivers) that underlie and affect environmental citizenship among citizens, especially citizens of large cities. Each of these researches related to variables has only one or two variables.
Data and Method
            The method of this research is futurology. First, the Delphi method is used. In this study; To analyze the key factors (drivers) of environmental citizenship, 20 citizens of Tabriz were selected using the Delphi technique. Then, the effect result was entered into Mikmak software after taking the mean of all interactions and was analyzed.
 
Results and Discussion
            Findings showed that the initial identified factors (drivers) of environmental citizenship of Tabriz citizens according to the degree of impact are: environmental awareness or literacy, environmental attitude, environmental behavior, environmental concern Environment and the two variables of responsible environmental consumption and environmental ethics are two-dimensional factors. These variables are located in the diagram around the diagonal line of the northeastern part of the diagram and have a very high capacity to become key players in the system.
 
Conclusion
Environmental attitude, environmental behavior, environmental concern, environmental awareness or literacy, responsible environmental consumption and environmental ethics are identified from the highest influencing factor to the lowest influential factor from the perspective of experts and specialists, respectively. Taken. Now, considering the weight of the factors and the priority of their impact on environmental citizenship, the following suggestion can be made in this regard:
Cultural policymakers, managers, and planners should develop environmental citizenship education content and policies and policies related to environmental citizenship education programs in order to enhance environmental awareness or literacy.