Climate change awareness and climate-friendly activities: Identifying resident typologies in Košice, Slovakia
The research focuses on studying climate change awareness and climate-friendly activities among different socioeconomic groups in the city of Košice, Slovakia. Public awareness is a key element when tackling complex issues demanding wide-ranging compliance across sectors and individuals. In order to assess the perceptions and activities related to the climate change, we analyze the data stemming from survey conducted during the last quarter of 2019. Applying latent class cluster analysis to the sample of 368 observations, we were able to identify four types of respondents. These groups differ in the degree of vulnerability to adverse conditions due to climate change. This study sheds light on how different groups of citizens perceive the threat of climate change impacts in their everyday lives and how they act in order to adapt. Such findings can be applied by policymakers at both national and local level when designing and communicating socially just measures reflecting the needs of all major types of citizens. The paper identifies four different groups of residents based on their perceptions of climate change and their activities to adapt. Each group needs to be considered separately when designing adaptation strategy in order not to exacerbate existing socioeconomic inequalities. The findings also point to the need to strengthen municipality's activities in the area of climate change education.