Special Issue: Sustainability and risk perception: multidisciplinary approaches

Abstract

Leonardo Mercatanti and Gaetano Sabato were guest editors of a special issue of the peer-​reviewed journal AIMS Geoscience "Sustainability and risk perception: multidisciplinary approaches". Within the scientific discourse of Geography and Social Sciences, the concepts of “sustainability” and “risk perception” often represent two complementary issues of the same dynamic. One mutually implies the other in different and complex ways and yet they are often dealt as two separate matters. Approaching the latter together as part of the same dialectical process, however allows us to gain a better insight on their interaction. For example, if we consider that risk perception implies forms of power and social relationships then the perception of volcanic risk could suggest sustainable security policies. Or, again, how risk perception could be connected to sustainable habits i.e. in the case of waste management, the real danger of unsustainability can positively affect more responsible behaviours and even encourage recycling. And once more, how some consumers’ behaviours are caused by specific risk perceptions i.e. the fear of pauperizing private and public resources leads to group purchases trends. This Special Issue of AIMS Geosciences aims to focus on some issues related to the topic of Sustainability and Risk perception. We think that a multi- and inter-disciplinary approach is really useful to try answering questions such as: how do these two poles interact? How do they influence (and/or affect) each other reciprocally? What kind of correlation exists between them? For this purpose, we encourage scholars of different disciplines and/or various fields of study to contribute with theoretical reflections, experiences and case studies.