Advancing the Role of Cities in Climate Governance: Promise, Limits, Politics

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Forthcoming

8 Pages Posted: 31 Mar 2020

See all articles by Jeroen van der Heijden

Jeroen van der Heijden

Victoria University of Wellington, School of Government; Australian National University, School of Regulation & Global Governance (RegNet)

James Patterson

Department of Environmental Policy Analysis, Institute of Environmental Studies (IVM)

Sirkku Juhola

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Marc Wolfram

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: 2019

Abstract

Over the last two decades, a burgeoning literature has emerged on the role of cities in climate governance. This literature has identified compelling possibilities for innovative urban climate governance through experimentation and novel forms of agency at the city level, which hold promise for advancing global climate governance, despite political stagnation at national and international levels (Betsill & Bulkeley, 2006; Bulkeley & Betsill, 2013; Bulkeley, Castan Broto, & Edwards, 2015; B. Evans, Joas, Sundback, & Thobald, 2006; Hoffmann, 2011; Van der Heijden, 2014). Yet, despite the widespread hope being invested in cities as agents and sites of change in addressing global climate change, there remains a worrying lack of robust evidence for their effectiveness and ability to fulfil this role (Bansard, Pattberg, & Widerberg, 2016; Bulkeley et al., 2014; Van der Heijden, 2017). What is urgently required is a critical reflection on the role of cities in climate governance. Such reflection is important for understanding how the potential of cities as agents of change in global climate governance can be more fully realized. This is the aim of a special issue introduced by the current article: to critically reflect on the notion of cities as agents of change for global sustainability problems.

Keywords: Urban Climate Governance, Cities and Climate Change

Suggested Citation

van der Heijden, Jeroen and Patterson, James and Juhola, Sirkku and Wolfram, Marc, Advancing the Role of Cities in Climate Governance: Promise, Limits, Politics (2019). Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3549102

Jeroen Van der Heijden (Contact Author)

Victoria University of Wellington, School of Government ( email )

PO Box 600
Wellington 6140
New Zealand

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.victoria.ac.nz/sog/about/staff/jeroen-vanderheijden

Australian National University, School of Regulation & Global Governance (RegNet) ( email )

Australian National University
Building #8
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200
Australia

James Patterson

Department of Environmental Policy Analysis, Institute of Environmental Studies (IVM) ( email )

De Boelelaan 1115
Amsterdam, 1081 HV
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.ivm.vu.nl

Sirkku Juhola

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

Marc Wolfram

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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