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Wildfire, Environmental Risk and Deliberative Planning in the Locarnese Region of Switzerland

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Abstract

A survey of residents in the Locarnese region of Canton Ticino, Switzerland was used to examine perceptions of exposure to environmental risk in the context of the deliberative Swiss planning system. There is a growing risk of wildfire in the region, and unless residents’ risk perceptions are understood and effectively integrated into decision making, confidence in environmental planning processes could erode. The research analyses how peri-urban residents conceptualise risk, place and environment, and how they perceive their influence over local planning outcomes. Descriptive and inferential statistics reveal high appreciation of lifestyle and amenity values, and support for firefighting services. While respondents recognise the increasing exposure to wildfires and landslides, it was the current level of urban expansion that was seen to be heightening risk at the interface between forests and settlements. Although Swiss deliberative governance arrangements offer citizens opportunities to be involved in decision making through official channels, respondents who were younger, of local background or who were less educated were particularly dissatisfied with their influence over planning. We discuss the implications of these findings for the distinctive Swiss planning system in the context of other countries’ ambitions to develop more effective, democratic environmental planning. In particular, the relative ease offered by popular referenda may be creating a disproportionate sense of citizen entitlement to be heard on local planning issues. Dialogues of risk reduction must continue to evolve between the population and government actors to encourage residents to engage more fully with relevant topics of risk for their region.

Highlights

  • The nature of wildfire risk is changing in southern Switzerland.

  • Local environmental risks are not rated highly by household respondents.

  • Residents state that they have a very high understanding of the planning system.

  • Many respondents do not feel that they can influence planning outcomes.

  • Deliberative planning systems will need to evolve to accommodate future risk.

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Data availability

The primary data are stored at the University of Adelaide.

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Acknowledgements

This research was conducted as part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP130100406). Thanks go to the University of Adelaide, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) for their support, and to Emily Moskwa, Dianne Rudd and Elisa Palazzo for their research assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geography, Environment and Population, School of Social Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Annette M. Bardsley, Douglas K. Bardsley & Guy M. Robinson

  2. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Cadenazzo, Ticino, Switzerland

    Marco Conedera

  3. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland

    Marco Pütz

  4. UniSA STEM, The University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Delene Weber

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  1. Annette M. Bardsley
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Correspondence to Annette M. Bardsley.

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Bardsley, A.M., Bardsley, D.K., Conedera, M. et al. Wildfire, Environmental Risk and Deliberative Planning in the Locarnese Region of Switzerland. Environmental Management 68, 785–801 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01523-5

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