Public acceptance of low emission zones in emerging cities: behavioral evidence from India

Low Emission Zones (LEZs) have emerged as a key policy tool for improving urban air quality, lowering the emissions from transport, and fostering sustainable mobility. However, its successful implementation is heavily reliant on public approval, especially in rapidly urbanizing cities with mixed land use, high population density, and varying levels of institutional trust. This study creates and tests an integrated behavioural framework to explain popular acceptance of a planned LEZ in the historic urban core of One Town, Vijayawada, India. The proposed framework integrates six complementary behavioural theories: the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the Norm Activation Model (NAM), Trust Theory, Fairness Theory, the Affect Heuristic, and Cognitive Appraisal Theory to capture the cognitive, emotional, normative, and institutional factors influencing LEZ acceptability. Primary data were collected through a structured household questionnaire administered to 410 respondents, and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to examine the relationships among the latent constructs. The results indicate that attitude (β = 0.42), perceived behavioural control (β = 0.43), personal norm (β = 0.34), social norm (β = 0.27), and trust (β = 0.22) significantly and positively influence public acceptability of LEZs. Trust is strengthened by procedural fairness (β = 0.56), perceived benefits (β = 0.49), and positive affect (β = 0.38), while favourable attitudes are positively influenced by perceived benefits (β = 0.47), outcome efficacy (β = 0.39), trust (β = 0.34), and positive affect (β = 0.28), and negatively influenced by perceived costs (β = − 0.29). Furthermore, problem perception significantly strengthens personal norms (β = 0.35) and negative affect (β = 0.41), reinforcing the importance of environmental awareness in shaping behavioural intentions. The study contributes by integrating multiple behavioral theories into a unified framework to explain public acceptability of a mandated environmental mobility policy in an Indian historic urban context. The findings also help to drive planning measures such as pedestrian-oriented street redesign, parking management, equitable pricing techniques, and transparent policy implementation aimed at increasing institutional trust and public support for LEZs. While the framework provides valuable evidence for dense historic urban areas, future studies should validate its applicability across other Indian cities and emerging urban contexts.