Risk Perception, Policy Cognition and Policy Response of Transient Population in 'Villages in Downtown' in Terms of Environmental Sanitation—Case Study in the City of Shanghai, China

摘要

Safe drinking water and environmental sanitation are basic indicators of healthy living conditions. In this study, we evaluated environmental health risks through investigating drinking water quality and environmental sanitation facilities in several specialized "villages in downtown" (VID)-mostly occupied by transient and poor populations -in Shanghai, the largest city in China. Specifically, we[1] visited 200 households with questionnaires to estimate VID inhabitants' senses to environmental and health-related issues'21, collected and analyzed more than 2,300 laws and regulations about environmental protection rectified between Jan. 1, 1999 and Dec. 31, 2010, to evaluate the central government's attempts to handle environmental health risks, and'31 interviewed 10 officials in various departments of Shanghai municipal government to measure the resistance during the practice of central and local governments' environmental and health-related policies. Results demonstrated that the environmental sanitation system in VID has been ignorant during city planning, and the VID inhabitants are not award of environmental issues through official pathways and are manly informed via mass media. In order to improve living conditions in VID and meet the standard set by public policies, an effective communication system among policy makers, policy executors, and VID inhabitants should be established.