Environmental risk and (re)action: air quality, health, and civic involvement in an urban industrial neighbourhood

This paper explores the links between (perceived) environmental risk and community (re) action in an urban industrial neighbourhood in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In-depth interviews were conducted with residents of an area with a documented history of adverse air quality, in order to determine the relative influence of social capital (networks, norms, and social trust) and place attachment (sense of belonging in a neighbourhood) in deciding to take civic action around this particular environmental issue. The interviews illustrate the complexity of lay understandings of air pollution, and indicate that social capital is a primary contributor to the decision to take certain kinds of action, while attachment to place plays a lesser role.