Description
Book Synopsis‘Citizen sensing’, the practice in which grassroots actors use sensor technology for environmental monitoring, is increasingly entering the debate around environmental risk governance. This groundbreaking book explores the potential for citizen sensing to concretely influence the governance of environmental risks to public health by shaping policy responses implemented by competent institutions.
Taking a unique perspective that combines the elements of risk, technology, the grassroots-drive and distrust, Anna Berti Suman analyses which factors contribute to the policy uptake of community-led citizen sensing. She frames the study through the voices of the citizen sensing participants interviewed in her fieldwork, incorporating both theoretical reflections and ethnography into a mixed-methods approach. The book offers novel insights into the advantages and drawbacks of the reliance on citizen sensing by institutional actors and highlights the need for further research in this area.
Academics working in environmental law and risk governance will find the research and findings contained in this book both interesting and timely. It will also be of practical use to policy-makers and practitioners, as well as citizen sensing communities that wish to make their monitoring practices more influential.
Trade Review‘Anna Berti Suman has written a remarkable book about the policy uptake of grassroots citizen sensing. With great insight, Berti Suman extends our thinking with respect to the notions of citizen sensing, policy uptake, and risk governance. Her point about “integration dilemma” will be of interest to readers in public policy studies, environmental studies, and disaster studies. This book will change the way academics, policy-makers and citizen sensing practitioners think about communication between citizens and institutional actors in Europe and beyond.’
