Determination of Environmental Ethics Approaches of Urban and Regional Planning Students

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15320/ICONARP.2023.258

Keywords:

Environmental ethics, environmental policies, new ecological paradigm, pro-environmental behavior

Abstract

Urban planners who are environmentally conscious and aware will take action to take responsibility, inform, and control. Raising environmental awareness is essential in urban planning education to understand environmental problems. Therefore, it is necessary to educate urban planning students on environmental ethics. This study investigates the environmental attitudes and behaviors of urban and regional planning students, who will shape the environment in the future within the context of the value-belief-norm theory. Moreover, to find clues that will shape environmental education in the course curriculum. The study included 226 students from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in the Faculty of Architecture of Yıldız Technical University (YTU) and Amasya University (AU). Questionnaire data has been evaluated using principal components analysis, correlation analysis, T-test, and ANOVA analysis. According to the study findings, urban planning students have adopted biocentric, ecocentric, and anthropocentric value orientations. The study has found that students with ecocentric value orientation tend to show more pro-environmental behavior. The study concludes that the student’s characteristics also affect how they show pro-environmental behavior and evaluate environmental policies. In conclusion, focusing on ecocentric approaches in urban planning education can positively affect adopting pro-environmental behavior and policies. Additionally, study findings show that students with relatively better economic conditions are more inclined to have a biocentric value orientation. Based on the literature and these study findings, pro-environmental behavior is not a single-dimensional structure caused only by individuals' personal and professional characteristics. People's environmental attitudes and behaviors are shaped by their upbringing, school, friends, and culture. It shows that pro-environmental behavior has a multi-dimensional complex structure, and a conceptual framework can provide guidance to explain these kinds of behavior.

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Author Biographies

Aslı Altanlar, Amasya University

Aslı ALTANLAR received his Ph. D. from Yıldız Technical University, Department of Urban Planning in 2015. Between 2010 and 2015, she worked as a research assistant and lecturer at Yıldız Technical University. She worked as an assistant professor at Amasya University from 2016 to 2022.  She currently works as an associate professor at Amasya University, Department of Urban and Regional Planning.

Esin Özlem Aktuğlu Aktan, Yıldız Technical University

Esin Ö. AKTUĞLU AKTAN completed a bachelor’s degree in City and Regional Planning and Urban Design master's programs at DEU. She started his doctoral studies and research assistantship at IZTECH and continued his studies/carrier at YTU. She is currently teaching as an associate professor at YTU on urban design, urban morphology, urban transportation, design principles, and utopias in urbanism. She is the editor of the Megaron Journal and the director of the International Center for Urban Studies-ICUS at YTU.

Nilgün Çolpan Erkan, Yıldız Technical University

Nilgün Çolpan ERKAN is a professor at Yıldız Technical University, Department of Urban and Regional Planning. She is one of the founding members and former director of the International Center for Urban Studies-ICUS in YTU and vice dean of the Faculty of Architecture. She is teaching a number of graduate and postgraduate courses, including Environmental Psychology and Urban Design. Her research focuses on urban image-identity and urban safety.

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Published

28-12-2023

How to Cite

Altanlar, A., Aktuğlu Aktan, E. Özlem, & Erkan, N. Çolpan. (2023). Determination of Environmental Ethics Approaches of Urban and Regional Planning Students. ICONARP International Journal of Architecture and Planning, 11(2), 650–671. https://doi.org/10.15320/ICONARP.2023.258

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Vol. 11 No. 2 (2023)

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