Experts from all over the world analyse how to facilitate environmentally responsible behaviour at the UB

Initially, the IAPS was born out of the collaboration between architects and environmental psychologists. Today, however, there is an increasing variety of topics. “The congress focuses on human and social behaviour and experiences; it focuses on what facilitates or hinders responsible behaviour as individuals, collectives and also as managers, and when it comes to making decisions in administrations, companies or NGOs”, says Enric Pol, professor of Social and Environmental Psychology at the UB, promoter of the first edition forty years ago and co-chair of the current congress, together with Angela Castrechini, lecturer at the UB’s Faculty of Psychology.

Specifically, the conference is structured along six axes: the first focuses on climate change and sustainability, with a commitment to changing human behaviour; the second covers natural and urban environments and the transition of cities; participation, citizenship and environmental justice is the third; the fourth area focuses on links with territory — space, gender and post-colonialism; the fifth is related to mobility, habits and needs, and the sixth deals with information, communication management and the construction of realities. With regard to this last aspect, Enric Pol points out that: “currently, the role of networks and the digital world is very important when it comes to transmitting values and models of conduct; a transversal axis of the congress will be on how these processes of constructing reality have consequences for the maintenance of the environment, for sustainability".