‘Give Me a Laboratory and <scp>I</scp> Will Lower Your Carbon Footprint!’ — Urban Laboratories and the Governance of Low‐Carbon Futures

Evans, James; Karvonen, Andrew

doi:10.1111/1468-2427.12077

Cited by 301 publications

(185 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Current urban experimentation studies have a broad range of focus, which includes climate change mitigation strategies like those in the United Kingdom, Germany, and India [81][82][83], low carbon experimentation [84,85], and smart urbanism [86,87]. The politics of creating these urban experiments to promote change facilitates questions of wider transformation [22].…”

Section: Urban Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Green Experiment: Cities, Green Stormwater Infrastructure, and Sustainability

et al. 2017

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Green infrastructure is a unique combination of economic, social, and environmental goals and benefits that requires an adaptable framework for planning, implementing, and evaluating. In this study, we propose an experimental framework for policy, implementation, and subsequent evaluation of green stormwater infrastructure within the context of sociotechnical systems and urban experimentation. Sociotechnical systems describe the interaction of complex systems with quantitative and qualitative impacts. Urban experimentation-traditionally referencing climate change programs and their impacts-is a process of evaluating city programs as if in a laboratory setting with hypotheses and evaluated results. We combine these two concepts into a singular framework creating a policy feedback cycle (PFC) for green infrastructure to evaluate municipal green infrastructure plans as an experimental process within the context of a sociotechnical system. After proposing and discussing the PFC, we utilize the tool to research and evaluate the green infrastructure programs of 27 municipalities across the United States. Results indicate that green infrastructure plans should incorporate community involvement and communication, evaluation based on project motivation, and an iterative process for knowledge production. We suggest knowledge brokers as a key resource in connecting the evaluation stage of the feedback cycle to the policy phase. We identify three important needs for green infrastructure experimentation: (i) a fluid definition of green infrastructure in policy; (ii) maintenance and evaluation components of a green infrastructure plan; and (iii) communication of the plan to the community.

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Section: Urban Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Flexible and adaptive [4] 3. Definitive system boundaries with controlled data collection [81] 4. Social learning/Capture interest of non-scientists [4,90] 5.…”

Section: Developing An Experimental Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Green Experiment: Cities, Green Stormwater Infrastructure, and Sustainability

et al. 2017

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“…Urban experiments are being mobilised not merely to study the city but also to probe diverse urban futures, harness innovations to transform the city and its various sociotechnical systems [4][5][6] and contribute to developing the capacities required for transformation [7]. Proponents of urban experimentation have devised and implemented a variety of experimental spaces, such as urban living laboratories, transition arenas, platforms, and experimental districts, which are the object of a thriving body of literature [8][9][10][11][12]. While the literature on urban experimentation has emphasised deliberate efforts to construct experimental spaces, the question of how a particular place or city becomes a favourable environment for experimentation with sustainability has hardly been asked.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking the Formation of Favourable Environments for Urban Experimentation: The Case of the Bristol Energy Scene

2018

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Urban experimentation with sustainability has been gaining prominence in policy and academic discourses about urban transformations, spurring the creation of urban living laboratories and transition arenas. However, the academic literature has only begun examining why experimentation flourishes in particular cities, and why it conforms to place-specific styles. Meanwhile, the strategic niche management (SNM) tradition has extensively explored how protective spaces for experimentation emerge but has dealt only tangentially with why this happens in particular places. In this paper, we develop an approach for unpacking the formation of favourable environments for experimentation in specific places. We adopt an abductive research design to create a dialogue between distinct theoretical positions and one in-depth case study. Our case examines the formation of the Bristol energy scene, which hosts a variety of experimental initiatives concerning civic energy alternatives. Based on our findings, we refine the understanding of the processes shaping this experimental setting. There is value in characterising the 'genealogy' of experimental spaces and acknowledging their antecedents, path-dependencies and place-specificities. Efforts to foster urban transformation demand nuanced accounts of how places become experimental because they are not static backgrounds for experimentation.

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“…This flexibility in the location and especially the experimental nature of niches makes the concept useful for analysing and developing transition strategies related to the city. The notion of niche is being used in different city-related issues such as governance and social experimentation (Evans & Karvonen 2014;Potter et al 2015;Bulkeley & Castán Broto 2013). Niche-based transformations have also been applied in the analysis of energy use in residential buildings (Berry et al 2013;Quitzau et al 2012) and in urban transport (Nykvist & Whitmarsh 2008;Potter et al 2015).…”

Section: The Nichesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A transition to a denser and more sustainable city: Factors and actors in Trondheim, Norway

Hernández-Palacio

2017

Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions

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This paper analyses urban densification in Norway as a key element of sustainable city policies. The city is viewed as a system in which changes of material aspects, such as density, are linked with social and technological aspects. Densification targets in Trondheim are used as a case study to explore the main actors and factors involved in urban development. A multilevel perspective approach used in sustainability transitions studies is applied as a model to describe them. The aim is to illustrate interactions and barriers arising in the implementation of densification policies. The argument suggests that despite a shift of paradigm in planning towards sustainability, urban regimes have remained rather stable. Some progress has been made, but further advancing the sustainability agenda may require new rules in the regime -for example, new planning policies integrated with taxation and financial instruments, and transport regulations -and a stronger emphasis on niche developments.

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‘Give Me a Laboratory and I Will Lower Your Carbon Footprint!’ — Urban Laboratories and the Governance of Low‐Carbon Futures

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 301 publications

References 51 publications

The Green Experiment: Cities, Green Stormwater Infrastructure, and Sustainability

The Green Experiment: Cities, Green Stormwater Infrastructure, and Sustainability

Unpacking the Formation of Favourable Environments for Urban Experimentation: The Case of the Bristol Energy Scene

A transition to a denser and more sustainable city: Factors and actors in Trondheim, Norway

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