The Influence of Administrative Traditions and Governance on Private Involvement in Urban Climate Change Adaptation

Abstract

This qualitative study examines how administrative traditions and governance in two cities, New York City and Helsinki, have affected the interplay of public administration, the private sector, and citizens in climate change adaptation. The results show that both cities aim for an increased state-market-civil society interaction. However, their efforts have different points of departure and follow different trajectories. New York City's administration is within the Anglo-American tradition of state-market dualism, while the state-market-civil society interaction for adaptation is coordinated by newly created administrative organizations. This interaction has to be accommodated to the strong reliance on market mechanisms. Helsinki's administration has its roots in the welfare state administration with a strong role of the public administration. Increased state-market-civil society interaction results in a reduced influence of the public sector and the reliance on ad hoc projects and informal modes of cross-sectoral cooperation.

Knowledge sharing to support climate change adaptation in Zimbabwe

“…Pelling et al (2008) view the concept of adaptation as an alteration in the state of a system in response to a stressor, in which key variables are conserved or enhanced. Biesbroek et al (2018) and Klein and Juhola (2018) opine that there is a consensus that adaptation should involve multiple actors drawn from the public and private sector and the civil society. Nyong et al (2007) view adaptation methods as strategies that enable the individual or the community to cope with or adjust to the local impacts of climate change.…”

Responsibility for climate change adaptation

“…The extent to which cross‐level steering of adaptation is possible is largely determined by the governance system in question (Keskitalo, Juhola, & Westerhoff, ). However, it is also influenced by the administrative traditions that affect the engagement of actors and allocation of responsibilities (Klein & Juhola, ).…”

Public Bureaucracy and Climate Change Adaptation

“…In most of the scholarship concerning public administration, the concept of administrative traditions has focused almost explicitly on nation states. By contrast, Klein and Juhola () investigate whether administrative traditions translate to fundamental differences in how the cities of Helsinki and New York have designed state–market–civil society governance arrangements for adaptation. In this latter context, administrative traditions have resulted in distinctively different trajectories of administrative reform for integrating climate change adaptation planning within the cities’ bureaucracies.…”