Predicting pro-environmental behaviors in the urban context: The direct or moderated effect of urban stress, city identity, and worldviews

The present paper investigates the role of urban stress, local identity and sustainable worldviews in the prediction of a set of urban pro-environmental behaviors: recycling, domestic water saving, non-littering, sustainable transport, support for environmental associations, and willingness to pay for green energy. Using self-report measures, a correlational field study was carried out (N = 242). Results show that both urban stress and endorsement of sustainable worldviews are significant positive predictors of pro-environmental behavior in general, and of non-littering and supporting environmental organizations in particular. City identity moderates the relationship between urban stress and, respectively, willingness to pay for green energy and non-littering: a high level of stress predicts these pro-environmental patterns only for those who strongly identify with their city. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.