Influence of the built environment on urban residential low-carbon cognition in zhengzhou, China

Low-carbon cognition can potentially impact low-carbon behavior, playing an important role in sustainable urban development. Traditional low-carbon cognition research has paid little attention to the built environment, causing an underestimation of the influence of urban spatial planning and regulation. Therefore, we constructed an analytical framework of low-carbon cognition and integrated the built environment 5D variables with local forces to investigate the cultural, local, and personal impact of low-carbon cognition. Low-carbon cognition in terms of energy use, daily travel, and consumption for 1485 households in Zhengzhou City was empirically studied. The results show that residents’ low-carbon cognition is hierarchical. Low-carbon travel cognition is highly susceptible to the external environment, while low-carbon energy use cognition is susceptible to cultural factors. There are differences in the effects of the three forces on residents’ low-carbon cognition. The personal and cultural forces have a greater impact on residents’ low-carbon energy use and consumption cognition, while the local force affects various low-carbon cognition of residents. The heterogeneity of the built environmental impact should be focused on. The “5D” built environment (Density, Diversity, Design, Distance to transit, and Destination accessibility) positively affects the level of low-carbon travel cognitive, but negatively affects the level of low-carbon consumption cognitive. This study comprehensively analyzes the low-carbon cognition of energy use, daily travel, and consumption, objectively measures the impact of “Regional force” on low-carbon cognition, and determines the heterogeneous effect of the external built environment on low-carbon cognition. We provide detailed policy recommendations for the construction of low-carbon cities and transformation of residents’ living behaviors.