School of Management, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China.
Laboratory of Neuromanagement in Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China.
Environ Manage. 2022 Sep;70(3):526-535. doi: 10.1007/s00267-022-01663-2. Epub 2022 May 19.
As an indispensable part of cities, wastewater treatment plants play an important role in environmental protection and urbanization. However, the promotion of wastewater treatment plants has been consistently hindered by residents' negative stereotypes and rejections, which is called "Not-In-My-Back-Yard" (NIMBY) effect. This study collected the first-hand data with the residents residing within 3 kilometers of 9 wastewater treatment plants in Xi'an, China through a survey. Keyword co-occurrence network analysis was conducted and the results illustrate that residents have stereotypes toward wastewater treatment plants. There are two types of residents' stereotypes toward wastewater treatment plants: positive and negative. The positive stereotypes of wastewater treatment plants in turn can be subdivided into the three categories of treatment technologies, treatment results, and social impacts. But the negative stereotypes didn't demonstrate meaningful categories. We also tried to identify the influencing factors that cause residents' stereotypes. The distance from residents' residence to the wastewater treatment plants has impacts on the stereotypes of residents' who reside within 1000 meters of the wastewater treatment plant: the farther from the wastewater treatment plants their residence is, the more positive their stereotypes are. We also found that the more educated the participants are, the more positive stereotypes of wastewater treatment plants they have. Moreover, residents' stereotypes toward wastewater treatment plants are more influenced by formal education. Non-formal education and informal learning probably have less influence on the promotion of wastewater treatment plants. Therefore, we propose to incorporate environmental education for sustainable development into formal education to increase residents' acceptance of wastewater treatment plants.
作为城市不可或缺的一部分，污水处理厂在环境保护和城市化进程中发挥着重要作用。然而，污水处理厂的推广一直受到居民负面刻板印象和反对的阻碍，这被称为“邻避效应”（NIMBY）。本研究通过调查，收集了中国西安 9 家污水处理厂周边 3 公里范围内居民的第一手数据。通过关键词共现网络分析，结果表明居民对污水处理厂存在刻板印象。居民对污水处理厂的刻板印象有两种类型：正面和负面。污水处理厂的正面刻板印象又可以细分为处理技术、处理结果和社会影响三个类别。但是，负面刻板印象没有表现出有意义的类别。我们还试图确定造成居民刻板印象的影响因素。居民居住地到污水处理厂的距离对居住在污水处理厂 1000 米范围内的居民的刻板印象有影响：离污水处理厂越远，他们的刻板印象越正面。我们还发现，受教育程度越高的参与者对污水处理厂的刻板印象越正面。此外，居民对污水处理厂的刻板印象受正规教育的影响更大。非正规教育和非正式学习可能对污水处理厂的推广影响较小。因此，我们建议将可持续发展环境教育纳入正规教育，以提高居民对污水处理厂的接受度。
