Intergenerational justice and solidarity on sustainability in China: A case study in Nanjing, Yangtze River Delta

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine systematically the intergenerational justice and solidarity on sustainability in China, which is fundamental for achieving social/cultural change, whereas this is threatened by environmental unsustainability. A questionnaire survey with a sample size of 752 was carried out in Nanjing, Yangtze River Delta, China, with different age groups, and in the meantime, a series of qualitative studies was carried out through in-depth interviews and focus groups. It is shown that: with increasing age, people are more concerned about general and large-scale sustainability issue, whereas for smaller scale and immediate sustainability issues, there is no clear tendency with increasing age; older generations are more concerned about the causes of climate changes; in terms of responsibility for environmental problems, there are statistically-significant view changes with increasing age; for priority considerations in sustainability, among age groups, at the personal level, there is generally no statistically-significant difference, whereas at the public level, there are some statistically-significant differences; for preserving the future, there is generally no statistically-significant difference among age groups. Overall, there are considerable differences in intergenerational justice on sustainability, although there are still indications of solidarity among generations.