زهرا شيراني

Abstract Climate change in recent decades has become one of the most significant global challenges in the field of sustainability. The unprecedented acceleration of global warming, the increasing occurrence of severe climatic phenomena, the expansion of environmental instabilities, an‎d the threats to biological security all highlight the necessity of revisiting policies an‎d development patterns, especially within urban contexts. Cities, as the main centers of population concentration, activity, energy consumption, an‎d pollutant emissions, are simultaneously among the most vulnerable spatial units to climate change an‎d possess considerable potential for offering effective solutions to confront this crisis. In this regard, the concept of climate-smart urbanism has emerged as a novel an‎d comprehensive approach in urban planning an‎d design. This concept integrates climate-sustainability goals, the application of advanced technologies, data-driven policymaking, an‎d active citizen engagement to enhance urban resilience against climate change. However, recent studies indicate that the use of advanced technologies an‎d adaptive policies alone cannot guarantee the success of a climate-smart city unless citizens’ behaviors an‎d attitudes—as the primary actors in achieving climate sustainability—are considered. Accordingly, Behavioral Insights—an interdisciplinary field linked to psychology, behavioral economics, an‎d decision sciences—offer powerful analytical an‎d operational tools to understan‎d an‎d guide individual an‎d collective behaviors within public policy domains. The integration of these insights into the process of climate-oriented smart urbanism can enhance the effectiveness of urban interventions toward changing unsustainable behaviors, improving quality of life, an‎d reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Based on this, the present study aims to develop the principles of climate-smart urbanism with an emphasis on behavioral insights in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It seeks to identify an‎d analyze the key indicators influencing citizens’ behavior in the face of climate change an‎d to propose a conceptual an‎d practical framework that integrates urban planning with behavioral sciences. The case study of this research is the historic Jolfa neighborhood in the city of Isfahan, which—due to its unique physical, social, an‎d cultural characteristics—provides an appropriate an‎d comprehensive setting for examining residents’ behavioral responses to climatic changes an‎d urban policies. To this end, the indicators related to the two main keywords of the research—behavioral insights an‎d climate-smart urbanism—were identified through a systematic review of existing theoretical foundations an‎d a qualitative–quantitative (or mixed-Methods) content analysis of relevant literature. Accordingly, the main indicators associated with behavioral insights were categorized into seven groups: social capital, choice architecture, rational justification of behavioral choices, social meaning (dimensions), environmental identity, human emotions, an‎d social monitoring an‎d control. Similarly, indicators related to the climate-smart city were classified into six major groups: climate resilience, development of smart infrastructure, use of renewable energies, low-carbon transportation, smart governance, social an‎d digital participation, an‎d continuous monitoring an‎d eva‎luation. In the next stage, the study identified the factors influencing citizens’ behavioral insights—with an emphasis on urban factors—within the selec‎ted case-study environment, using qualitative methodology an‎d an ethnographic approach in the Jolfa neighborhood of Isfahan. Overall, these factors were collected through participatory an‎d non-participatory observation an‎d semi-structured interviews, an‎d specifically through the use of critical ethnography. Based on the derived factors an‎d the categorization of urban-related elements under the seven indicators, the research ultimately identified nine principles: enhancing intelligent information dissemination an‎d education; increasing awareness through observing appropriate behaviors; smart governance an‎d policymaking; intelligent empowerment an‎d economic support; smart infrastructure supporting climate-related activities an‎d fostering related norms an‎d culture; facilitating behavioral performance; increasing the rational justification of appropriate choices; equitable distribution of resources across the city; an‎d smart monitoring an‎d control. Finally, based on these principles, several potential strategies related to the topic were proposed. Overall, the findings of this research affirm the importance of considering citizens’ behavioral insights in urban policymaking an‎d, accordingly, present the principles an‎d strategies of climate-smart urbanism for the study area.

شهر هوشمند اقليمي , بينش‌هاي رفتاري , تغييرات اقليمي , قوم‌نگاري انتقادي , محله جلفا

Climate-smart city , Behavioral Insights , Climate change , Critical ethnography , Jolfa neighborhood

Zahra Shirani

Mostafa Behzadfar