Talking to me? : Risk communication to a diverse public

Abstract: This thesis focuses on the process of communication of environmentalrisks. A basic assumption in this thesis is that even though ambitious riskcommunication efforts can take place, the intended recipients are leftwith a feeling of alienation: Talking to me? The thesis presents a reviewof theories developed in the field of risk communication research andtheories concerning risk perception. Results in this thesis are based onthe findings in four papers. The first two papers report results fromtraditional risk communication strategies that have taken place in Swedenin accordance with the Seveso II Directive. The third paper looks at howindustry and organizations view participatory strategies that include stakeholdersin risk debates. The fourth paper attempts to fuse together placeidentityand risk perception in order to broaden the understanding ofenvironmental conflicts.The main results of this thesis can be summarized under three headings.First that there is no homogenous public in a risk communication context.Instead there seems to be a number of publics that differ in riskperception or have different environmental concerns. Second, strategiesthat tend to incorporate parts of the concerned public or stakeholdersseem to work better than traditional risk communication efforts. Third,if discussion about risk are to be fruitful, the concept of risk needs to bebroadened to include concerns that are not directly or apparently linkedto issues of health or safety. Instead concerns such as local culture orlocal attachment need to be included.The purpose of this thesis is to suggest methods for communicatingabout environmental risks in order to make the affected public feel: Yes,you are talking to me.