Keep it Clean! Civic Engagement for Environmental Sustainability and Norm Enforcement in the City

This study investigates the informal enforcement of cleanliness norms in public spaces, focusing on responses to littering as a measure of civic behavior. In a natural field experiment
conducted near the Lyon 2 University campus, participants are randomly assigned to a direct civic engagement activity in the form of a Cleanwalk, to awareness-based conditions, or
to a control group. Norm enforcement is measured through observed reactions to a staged littering event. We compare behavioral responses across treatment conditions to examine
whether direct civic engagement increases rates of disapproval to norm violations with respect to a control condition. Behavioral observations are complemented by self-reported and
incentivized measures of civicness.