Expand the frontiers of urban sustainability

Wachsmuth, David; Cohen, Daniel Aldana; Angelo, Hillary

doi:10.1038/536391a

Cited by 142 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…It could also involve local governments engaging even more ambitiously with their cosmopolitan citizenry, beyond the straightjacket of national interests and politics, and entertaining the possibilities that joint policy-making across local jurisdictional boundaries would afford local government. Experimentation could in fact result in green 'enclaves' in cities reserved for the affluent (Hodson and Marvin, 2010b) and aggravate climate risks faced by vulnerable urban populations (Wachsmuth et al, 2016). Without rejecting the importance of socio-technical experimentation, we argue that the transformative potential of governance experimentation should be harnessed.…”

Section: Encouraging Transformative Experimentationmentioning

confidence: 86%

Networking Cities after Paris: Weighing the Ambition of Urban Climate Change Experimentation

Smeds

Acuto

2018

Global Policy

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Over the past few decades, cities have repeatedly demonstrated high levels of ambition with regard to climate action. Global environmental governance has been marked by a proliferation of policy actions taken by local governments around the world to demonstrate their potential to advance climate change mitigation and adaptation. Leading ‘by example’ and demonstrating the extent of action that it is possible to deliver, cities have aspired to raise the ambition of national and international climate governance and put action into practice via a growing number of ‘climate change experiments’ delivered on the ground. Yet accounts of the potential of cities in global environmental governance have often stopped short of a systematic valuation of the nature and impact of the networked dimension of this action. This article addresses this by assessing the nature, and challenges faced by, urban climate governance in the post‐Paris era, focusing on the ‘experimentation’ undertaken in cities and the city networks shaping this type of governance. First, we unpack the concept of ‘urban climate change experimentation’, the ways in which it is networked, and the forces driving it. In the second and third parts of the article, we discuss two main pitfalls of networked urban experimentation in its current form, focusing on issues of scaling experiments and the nature of experimentation. We call for increased attention to ‘scaling up’ experiments beyond urban levels of governance, and to transformative experimentation with governance and politics by and in cities. Finally, we consider how these pitfalls allow us to weigh the potential of urban climate ambition, and consider the pathways available for supporting urban climate change experimentation.

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Section: Encouraging Transformative Experimentationmentioning

confidence: 86%

Networking Cities after Paris: Weighing the Ambition of Urban Climate Change Experimentation

Smeds

Acuto

2018

Global Policy

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“…This is attributed to the power relations that are 'infused' in all citizen spaces, including those such as community food growing, which may be conceived with the specific aim of addressing issues of social and environmental justice [44,46]. Where urban greening or food growing projects occur in one place, they can-de facto-have negative impacts for neighbouring groups or places [47]. Indeed, community food growing and associated urban green space projects may contribute to eco-gentrification as an unintended socio-ecological consequence, or as part of planned strategies used by authorities as part of urban renewal aimed at 'clearing up and clearing out' [48].…”

Section: Community Food Growing (Cfg): a Socio-political Activity?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Food Growing in Parks? Assessing the Acceptability and Feasibility in Sheffield, UK

Nam

Dempsey

2018

Sustainability

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Urbanisation brings with it increased pressure on land and land uses, particularly green spaces. There has been considerable interest in community food growing in green spaces as part of a wide trend for gardening in the UK, which has been found to bring social, health, and well-being benefits. Such activity tends to take place in community-managed gardens and allotments. In light of the context of austerity within which local authority parks departments currently operate, this study tested the acceptability and feasibility of parks as a potential urban setting for Community Food Growing (CFG) in Sheffield, UK. Employing a combination of resident questionnaires and interviews with community groups and professionals, the study results showed localised differences in the acceptability and feasibility of CFG. Residents' propensity to want to get involved in CFG differed by age and household composition, which, if acted on across the city, could significantly change the demographic make-up of parks-based community groups in the city. Barriers to CFG in parks were described by community groups and park managers as security and vandalism, need for resources, and undue pressure on the local authority as land-owner. We discuss the emergent questions around who is best placed to manage urban parks, particularly when the public sector is subject to stringent austerity budget measures. The paper concludes with commentary and recommendations about the importance of governance arrangements if CFG is to be included as part of the activities supported and managed in urban parks.

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“…Cities are highly unequal, however, a stubborn fact that both scientific and policy approaches to sustainability must increasingly address (3,4). Consider a thought experiment: complete data with perfect technological systems of real-time coordination arrive in every city tomorrow.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban sustainability in an age of enduring inequalities: Advancing theory and ecometrics for the 21st-century city

Sampson

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

107

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The environmental fragility of cities under advanced urbanization has motivated extensive efforts to promote the sustainability of urban ecosystems and physical infrastructures. Less attention has been devoted to neighborhood inequalities and fissures in the civic infrastructure that potentially challenge social sustainability and the capacity of cities to collectively address environmental challenges. This article draws on a program of research in three American cities—Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles—to develop hypotheses and methodological strategies for assessing how the multidimensional and multilevel inequalities that characterize contemporary cities bear on sustainability. In addition to standard concerns with relative inequality in income, the article reviews evidence on compounded deprivation, racial cleavages, civic engagement, institutional cynicism, and segregated patterns of urban mobility and organizational ties that differentially connect neighborhood resources. Harnessing “ecometric” measurement tools and emerging sources of urban data with a theoretically guided framework on neighborhood inequality can enhance the pursuit of sustainable cities, both in the United States and globally.

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Expand the frontiers of urban sustainability

Abstract: COMMENT LEE POWELL/THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY© 2 0 1 6 M a c m i l l a n P u b l i s h e r s L i m i t e d , p a r t o f S p r i n g e r N a t u r e . A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d .

Cited by 142 publications

References 6 publications

Networking Cities after Paris: Weighing the Ambition of Urban Climate Change Experimentation

Networking Cities after Paris: Weighing the Ambition of Urban Climate Change Experimentation

Community Food Growing in Parks? Assessing the Acceptability and Feasibility in Sheffield, UK

Urban sustainability in an age of enduring inequalities: Advancing theory and ecometrics for the 21st-century city

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