Streamlining governance for urban cleanliness
Insights from Indore in India
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19568248 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Komal Preet Kaur (0000-0001-9275-0906, Princeton Public Schools, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Elementa Science of the Anthropocene (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2325-1026 • E-ISSN: 2325-1026 |
| Publisher | University of California Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1525/elementa.2025.00012 |
| OpenAlex | W7148395904 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 28 |
Urban littering remains a persistent challenge in cities across the Global South, where enforcement capacity is limited, social hierarchies shape responsibility for sanitation, and behavioral interventions alone often fail to produce lasting change. I examine a case of Indore city in India to explore how psychological ownership and place-based attachment can help solve the commons dilemma of littering. Drawing on interviews with residents, documentary evidence, and field observations, the analysis situates the city’s reforms within three dominant theoretical frameworks: enforcement-based regulation, self-governance, and nudges. While each approach offers partial solutions, the case illustrates that the coordinated application of these frameworks has cultivated collective psychological ownership of public spaces. Residents’ internalization of cleanliness norms, reinforced by credible service delivery, participatory engagement, and visible behavioral cues, transformed compliance from an externally imposed obligation into an intrinsically valued civic commitment. The findings highlight how robust governance can align institutional credibility, social norms, and citizen engagement to sustain urban public goods and suggest directions for research on the mechanisms, scope, and limits of psychological ownership in urban environments
Citizen journalism · Commons · Compliance (psychology) · Corporate governance · Dilemma · Enforcement · Field (mathematics) · Obligation · Public service · Social dilemma · Urban and Rural Development Challenges · Urban Planning and Governance · Water Governance and Infrastructure
Reputation helps solve the ‘tragedy of the commons’
Revisiting the Commons
Caring for the Commons
Solid Wastes Provide Breeding Sites, Burrows, and Food for Biological Disease Vectors, and Urban Zoonotic Reservoirs
The importance of collective and individual psychological ownership for safe sanitation
Collective psychological ownership as a new angle for understanding group dynamics
Cleanest cities in India 2017
Collective psychological ownership within the work and organizational context
I salute them for their hardwork and contribution”
The Differential Impacts of Collective Psychological Ownership and Membership Identification on Work Burnout and Engagement
The work of waste
A focus theory of normative conduct
| Highly cited | No |
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