Exploring citizen participation and network collaboration: the observation action of air pollution policy

This study investigates a voluntary citizen observation action embedded in air pollution policy implementation in Taiwan to examine how collaborative network roles structure participation across heterogeneous urban and rural contexts. By integrating social network analysis with mediation modelling, the findings reveal three core insights: (1) While actors with professional knowledge serve as essential brokers, collaborative structures vary from decentralized, multi-core patterns in urban areas of Taichung City to more locally anchored networks in rural Yunlin shaped by strong place attachment among long-term residents; (2) Participants’ socio-demographic backgrounds – particularly female, older, and mid-educated residents – are empirically associated with critical network roles, highlighting the importance of non-elite actors in collaborative participation; (3) Brokerage positions rather than centrality alone appear to function as key relational mechanisms linking local attachment and age with sustained participation outcomes. These results suggest that institutionalizing support for non-elite brokers through community-based organizations and NGOs may enhance the sustainability of participatory air pollution policy implementation.