Christian Oltra

Risk communication and public engagement are routinely treated as necessary for the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS), yet projects that invest substantially in both can still encounter opposition, delay or cancellation. The difficulty is not simply a lack of evidence about what shapes public responses: successive reviews have already consolidated findings on public perceptions and community acceptance. A remaining gap lies in how this knowledge is translated into practice. Existing guidance addresses local context, stakeholder identification and dialogue, but does not organise engagement around the distinct psychosocial processes through which publics respond. This review develops a framework built around four interrelated processes: trustworthiness judgments about responsible actors; cognitive evaluation of the project, including perceived benefits, risks, costs and distributive fairness; affective and associative responses to the project and technology; and legitimacy judgments concerning process, authority and justification. These responses are conditioned by the material, siting and governance characteristics of the project. The framework links them to differentiated communicative and participatory practices across the project lifecycle. The result is both a research agenda for evaluating currently under-tested propositions and a practical framework for engagement that moves beyond a narrow emphasis on information provision and consultation.

Heat-related mortality in Europe is concentrated in Mediterranean countries, with Spain among the most affected. Recent work documents a misalignment between objective heat risk and its subjective perception, yet how the coping side of risk appraisal is socially distributed remains unclear. Drawing on protection motivation theory, we examine how objective vulnerability is distributed across three appraisal planes (threat appraisal, response efficacy, and adaptive self-efficacy) in a sample of 1,508 adults in Barcelona, Valencia, and Zaragoza. Personal vulnerability raises threat appraisal (β = 0.13), depresses response efficacy modestly (β = −0.07), and depresses self-efficacy most strongly (β = −0.17); the self-efficacy gradient is significantly steeper (Δβ = −0.09, p = .005). Component mechanisms differ: chronic conditions amplify threat appraisal, economic strain operates across all planes, and limited cooling resources depress self-efficacy. Heat-adaptation policy must make protection materially actionable, not only raise threat awareness.

Risk communication and public engagement are widely recognised as essential for the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS), yet their effectiveness remains limited by a persistent gap between the complexity of public responses and the architecture of current practice. Drawing on Leiss and Larkin (2019), whose framework remains foundational, and on broader traditions of risk communication and public participation, we argue that the prevailing architecture of current practice is insufficiently differentiated relative to the multidimensional nature of public responses to CCS projects. We propose a reformulated framework in which socially robust deployment is sustained by four interdependent psychosocial dimensions: trust in responsible actors, cognitive evaluation of the project (including perceived benefits, risks, costs and distributive and procedural fairness), affective responses to the project and the technology, and perceived legitimacy of the process and its justification. These dimensions operate as responses to a project whose material design and governance arrangements condition their activation. Current CCS engagement practice tends to address one or two dimensions at a time, while affect and legitimacy often remain comparatively underdeveloped, which helps explain difficulties encountered even in well-resourced projects. Integrating evidence from CCS research and contributions from risk communication, deliberative participation and energy acceptance, we derive operational principles that link distinct but coordinated communicative and participatory practices to the four dimensions across the project lifecycle. The article moves from acceptance as outcome to socially robust deployment as an ongoing and contingent condition, and offers an integrated conceptual basis for communication and engagement practice.

La tensión histórica entre las perspectivas estructuralistas y aquellas centradas en la agencia individual ha dificultado tradicionalmente la comprensión integral de la conducta humana en las ciencias sociales. Este estudio examina el modelo COM-B (Capacidad, Oportunidad, Motivación) como una síntesis teórica capaz de superar esta dicotomía al integrar factores psicológicos y contextuales en la explicación de la conducta social humana. A través de una revisión exploratoria (scoping review) de la literatura en Web of Science, PsycINFO y Elicit, se analizó el desarrollo y aplicación del modelo, revelando un predominio de investigaciones cualitativas centradas en la salud y una notable laguna metodológica en la medición estandarizada de sus componentes. A pesar de su penetración limitada en la sociología general frente a las ciencias de la salud, los resultados confirman el potencial del COM-B como un modelo robusto para el diseño de políticas públicas y enfoques de intervención multicomponente. Se concluye que el modelo ofrece una contribución significativa para las ciencias sociales y del comportamiento, proporcionando un marco necesario para trascender las explicaciones monocausales y expandir el análisis hacia dominios conductuales inexplorados como el político o el económico.

We examined how social dynamics shape perceptions of urban air quality. Although air quality has improved in several European cities, public perceptions often lag, with many perceiving it as worsening. Drawing on theories of environmental risk perception and a georeferenced survey of residents in Barcelona and Madrid, we used regression models to assess how factors such as population density, income inequality, and sociodemographic characteristics influence perceptions of air quality. We posit that a prevalence-induced concept change may be at play, in which declining pollution levels prompt residents to redefine poor air quality as they become more environmentally aware. This, coupled with social and political influences, creates a misperception that necessitates improved public communication strategies and urban planning that bridges the gap between objective improvements and subjective experiences. By acknowledging the role of social processes in environmental perception, our research underscores the importance of aligning public understanding with policy efforts for effective air quality management in contemporary cities.

This article explores the concept of thermal security as an analytical lens for understanding how individuals experience, interpret, and respond to urban heat waves. Drawing on Anthony Giddens' notion of ontological security, thermal security refers to the continuity and reliability of safe and comfortable thermal conditions that allow people to sustain everyday routines and a sense of existential stability. Through a systematic review of 26 qualitative studies, this paper synthesizes empirical insights from a wide range of geographic and cultural contexts. It identifies five key dimensions of thermal security—exposure, access, affordability, emotional impact, and coping strategies—and shows how these are shaped by intersecting social, material, and infrastructural inequalities. The review argues that qualitative research, often undervalued in climate studies, offers fine‐grained and situated knowledge essential for understanding the lived consequences of heat stress, particularly among vulnerable populations. By bridging ecological, emotional, and sociotechnical dimensions, the concept of thermal security provides a comprehensive framework for assessing adaptation needs and justice‐oriented climate responses in urban contexts.

Dado que la oposición pública se considera uno de los principales obstáculos para la introducción de planes de pacificación del tráfico, este trabajo investiga la aceptación y las actitudes de la población hacia las supermanzanas de Barcelona. A partir de una encuesta con residentes en Barcelona (N= 501), se analizan las creencias y emociones, así como las características sociodemográficas de los partidarios y opositores a las supermanzanas. Los resultados muestran una importante polarización. En relación con los opositores, los partidarios eran más jóvenes, tenían más probabilidades de ser mujeres, de vivir cerca de una supermanzana, de no tener coche y de situarse en la izquierda de la escala ideológica. Las creencias específicas sobre la política, las emociones, la legitimidad percibida del proceso y la confianza institucional están fuertemente asociadas con la aceptación de las supermanzanas.