TERRITORIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING AT INDIVIDUAL LEVEL: A SOCIAL CAPITAL - BASED APPROACH. EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM LATVIA Guido Sechi Dino Borri Caterina De Lucia Technical University of Bari, Italy Viesturs Celmins University of Cambridge, UK Abstract The present paper is an attempt at investigating the dynamics of social learning in territories with regard to environmental knowledge, in an analytic perspective and by means of quantitative analysis. 'Social capital' (an umbrella term encompassing social assets which allow individuals and organisations to gain external benefits) is the main conceptual tool on which the approach of the paper is based. The analysis is applied at the individual level, on the basis of data collected in the Republic of Latvia and related to perception of quality of life in Latvian cities. Four dimensions of social capital (structural, relational, attitudinal-cognitive, cognitive tools) and an environmental dimension (environmental knowledge) are identified, on the basis of existing literature. The impacts of social capital dimensions on knowledge enrichment and environmental knowledge, as well as the hypothesized relations among such dimensions, constitute a model which is tested by means of multivariate statistical analysis. The main hypotheses are related to Tsai and Ghoshal's findings (1998), according to which the structural and cognitive dimensions of social capital would foster relational capital and enable knowledge exchange, which in its turn would foster the growth of intellectual capital (in this case, environmental awareness) The sensitivity of results is tested by means of control variables of a social, demographic and economic nature (residence place dimensions, ethnicity, age, wealth). The results show basically a coincidence with the main findings of Tsai and Ghoshal, but some unexpected results are found as well. A high sensitivity with regard to control variables is also found.