Conference Agenda

This study examines the temporal dynamics of public preferences for health risk reductions related to air quality improvements in China, using discrete choice experiments (DCE) conducted in 2016 and 2024. By comparing willingness to pay (WTP) for reducing mortality and morbidity risks across two periods, this research investigates whether preferences for health remain stable over time in the context of rapid socio-economic and environmental changes. The results show a significant increase in the value of statistical life (VSL) and the value of statistical illness (VSI) from 2016 to 2024, with both increasing by over 60%, based on the calculations from the MXL model. The relationship between income and WTP is found to be non-linear, with increasing marginal effects as income levels rise. The study further reveals that public trust in government air quality policies has significantly improved from 2016 to 2024, which may partly explain the rise in WTP. These findings highlight the importance of regularly adjusting health risk valuation metrics in fast-developing countries and the need to account for trust in the providing institution when applying stated preference methods.

Air pollutants from power plants, industries and transport significantly threaten human health and the environment. To evaluate policies and programmes for sustainable development that improve air quality, it is important to quantify non-market benefits. Methods such as contingent valuation (CV) or choice experiment (CE), which rely on stated preferences (SP), are commonly used for this purpose. This review and meta-analysis explore the relationship between individuals' health status and their valuation of benefits from air quality improvement in SP studies. The study examines whether the methods used to assess health status affect the heterogeneity of preferences in valuing benefits experienced from reduced air pollution. Moreover, the review investigates the potential impact of the design of valuation studies on the relationship between health status and air quality valuation. The analysis of studies reveals that, in most cases, respondents' valuation of benefits either increases with reported poorer health or the impact of health status on valuation is insignificant. However, the way health status is assessed significantly influences the results. Studies based on medical diagnoses of diseases related to air pollution or on information about health symptoms caused by increased pollution levels more often show a positive relationship between poorer health status and higher valuation of benefits from better air quality compared with studies using general health status measures. A similar pattern is observed for health habits and general health status measures. Additionally, the design of CV and CE studies affects the statistical significance of the correlation between self-reported health status and air quality benefit valuation.

Electric buses (e-buses) are receiving increasing attention from planners and decision-makers worldwide. However, the user's perspective has received far less focus from scholars and practitioners, resulting in a lack of understanding about consumer response to bus fleet electrification. This paper addresses this research gap by investigating whether and how e-buses can enhance public transport attractiveness by improving ride conditions and leveraging environmental benefits. To this end, we first discuss all distinctive features of e-buses that can influence consumers' attitudes towards public transport. We then provide empirical evidence on travellers' responses to the introduction of e-buses using a pivoted discrete choice experiment conducted through a web-based survey in Rome, Italy.

The results of this research indicate that most trade-offs are significant and align with expectations. In particular, travellers recognize the distinctive features of e-buses, including environmental benefits. However, other quality attributes of bus services, such as frequency and punctuality -- which directly affect travel time -- and safety and security, are deemed more pivotal in attracting car drivers. When these attributes are considered in the choice experiment, the impact of environmental concerns on travel behaviour and travellers’ willingness to pay becomes less pronounced. Nevertheless, the intrinsic preference for e-buses remains statistically significant in our results, indicating a growing importance of environmental considerations in travel mode choice.

The central question of this study revolves around the impact of urbanization on public preferences for Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) that involve the recycling of water, referred to here as Circular NBS, or CNBS. Circularity can involve the recovery of water through the reuse of (treated) wastewater, which can raise public concerns. Understanding preferences for CNBS and how different degrees of urbanization shape these preferences is essential for informing sustainable urban development and fostering socially acceptable solutions. This is studied here through a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) involving over 2,000 respondents divided across different urbanization categories, following the Eurostat degree of urbanization methodology. In testing our main hypothesis of a positive but diminishing demand for CNBS along the urban-rural gradient, we apply both the ‘external’ urbanization classification and an ‘internal’ metric in the DCE measuring geographic proximity to the CNBS. This paper makes three key contributions to the literature. First, we confirm our main hypothesis, that there is significant demand for CNBS across all urbanization categories, with a significantly decreasing income elasticity of WTP as the level of urbanization increases, highlighting a stronger demand for CNBS in higher urbanized contexts. Secondly, we nevertheless find strong indications of a Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) effect across all urbanization categories that quickly wears off and converts into a non-linear distance-decay function. Finally, the degree of urbanization significantly influences preferences for different local wastewater reuse options, with a stronger demand for reuse in urban parks in highly urbanized areas, and for reuse in agricultural applications in rural areas.