Pathways to Urban Transformation

Rosenzweig, Cynthia; Solecki, William; Romero-Lankao, Patricia; Mehrotra, Shagun; Dhakal, Shobhakar; Ibrahim, Somayya Ali

doi:10.1017/9781316563878.008

Cited by 19 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…The treatment of urban AC in research as a shortterm ability to deal with shocks can translate into an equivocal analysis of vulnerability to climate change and support maladaptation of urban areas and their communities. Altogether, we can observe a mismatch between theoretical papers addressing the adaptability and transformability of urban areas (Hordijk et al 2014;Pelling et al 2015;Rosenzweig et al 2018b;Solecki et al 2017;Ziervogel et al 2016) and the limited empirical papers that sought to study these processes on the ground. Studying the dynamics of urban AC has methodological challenges as to design approaches that account for multiple AC paths within urban milieus in changing socio-natural contexts and taking longer time-frames (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Adaptive capacity in urban areas of developing countries

2019

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Urban areas of developing countries face increasing risks due to climate change. This paper systematically identifies and examines research published between 2000 and 2017 that assesses urban adaptive capacity to climate change in developing countries. To critically examine this literature, we developed a conceptual framework of urban adaptive capacity. The framework focuses on key components of urban adaptive capacity in three dimensions: the characterization of adaptive capacity, the external factors mediating adaptive capacity, and the dynamics of adaptive capacity. The study sheds light on the spatial and scalar interactions of individuals, communities, and authorities' adaptive capacities within urban areas and highlights the importance of governance and social institutions in shaping urban adaptive capacity. The work also finds shortcomings in the current assessment of urban adaptive capacity, with key gaps including a narrow focus on the range and types of adaptive capacity; limited assessment of the multilevel determinants, place-based processes, and urban determinants that shape adaptive capacity; and a lack of consideration of adaptive capacity interactions between social entities and with regard to climate sensitivity and exposure of a given area, including the potential for maladaptation. Addressing these research gaps would contribute to generate knowledge that can adequately support adaptation planning of urban areas in developing countries.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Adaptive capacity in urban areas of developing countries

2019

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“…In September 2018, Jerry Brown, the governor of California and, Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, hosted a Global Climate Action Summit that highlighted the role that could be played by diverse actors such as universities, civil society organizations, businesses and local governments through bottom-up and participatory processes to address climate change (Global Climate Action Summit 2018). The critical role of cities in climate adaptation and mitigation has also been identified in a report by the Urban Climate Change Research Network that identifies pathways to sustainable urban transformations (Rosenzweig et al 2018).…”

Section: Bottom-up Futures Based On Existing Local Practicesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Bottom-up Initiatives and Participatory Approaches for Outlooks

2019

Global Environment Outlook – GEO-6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People

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The challenge of sustainable development offers the opportunity for more effective integration of global and local scenario approaches in environmental assessments and outlooks to support decision-making for all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at all levels (i.e. local, national, regional and global) (established, but incomplete). A bottom-up perspective on the future, which is based on local scenarios and practices offers potential benefits for exploring alternative futures that are grounded in local realities and start with existing practical action that can be appropriately scaled. Linking top-down and bottom-up approaches to multilevel scenario development provides an opportunity for global processes to inform local actions and for taking account of local actions in global agreements. Co-developing approaches with diverse stakeholders will help to overcome the current limitations in scaling innovations up, out and deep, and in transferring valuable lessons and results from local to both regional and global levels, and vice versa {23.1}. The bottom-up approach engages a broad range of scientific and action-oriented knowledge, perspectives and opinions about a desirable world in the future and the ways to get there, including pathways to achieve long-term sustainability goals (e.g. the SDGs) (established, but incomplete). Since there is no single answer to achieving sustainability, having multiple perspectives is essential for defining different desirable futures. Through a combination of crowdsourcing platforms, participatory workshops in different regions of the world, analyses of existing sustainability solutions and an assessment of regional outlooks, novel methods for linking the generic results of global models with complementary information and insight from the local level can be undertaken. The outcome from the implementation of such an innovative framework provides useful and relevant information and knowledge for policymakers and practitioners to make more informed decisions about how to achieve a sustainable future {23.4, 23.6}. A groundswell of bottom-up efforts to realize the SDGs and other multilateral environmental agreements is currently under way, as are efforts to support and facilitate collaboration among them (established, but incomplete). Reviewing platforms of bottom-up initiatives provides a preliminary understanding of the breadth and depth of ideas, actions and programmes that seek to help achieve sustainable development objectives. The clear majority of the platforms have a global level of coverage, drawing on examples and encouraging connections from all over the world. Most of the platforms facilitate knowledge-sharing and the identification of solutions in two ways. First, this is through the collection of examples, solutions and best practices (e.g. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC] Momentum for Change Lighthouse Initiative, PANORAMA Solutions for a Healthy Planet; WOCAT; see Annex 23-1), and, second, by creating forums for sharing technical or ...

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“…Often these issues, where tackled, have been treated in relative siloes by different communities in environmental studies, culture or public health waking up to cities (Betsill and Bulkeley, ; de Leeuw, ; Pratt, ). Crucially, there seems to be a blatant discontinuity between the informal role of cities acting on the sidelines of UN processes, and their formalised role within official international frameworks (Alger, ; Rosenzweig et al, ). This is no small matter if we want to appreciate the role cities can explicitly play in global change.…”

Section: Cities and The United Nationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acknowledging Urbanization: A Survey of the Role of Cities in UN Frameworks

2020

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Cities are playing an increasingly vital role in global sustainability. Yet there is still little systematic and international evidence on the recognition and formal role of cities in multilateral affairs. Where and how are cities acknowledged as part of global efforts? How do the United Nations frame this 'urban' contribution to major international processes and agendas? To offer some initial evidence-based pointers to this set of problems, we present an analysis of explicit references to cities in major UN frameworks (n = 32) underpinning the current Agenda 2030 on sustainable development. We investigate how cities are cited to determine the role, key themes and contextual trends framing the engagement between United Nations and cities. Contra arguments for the uniqueness of the current 'rise' of mayors, our review demonstrates a weak rise in the recognition of cities over time in UN frameworks and shows historical continuity in this acknowledgement since the 1970s. Our review confirms that two prevailing themes determining this are those of 'development' and the 'environment' but other issues (like 'infrastructure' and 'health') are following closely behind. It also highlights acknowledgment of cities as 'actors' is on the rise since the 2000s and raises fundamental questions as to the status of cities internationally. We argue it becomes imperative to more systematically and strategically think of the role of cities in the UN system, but also flag that raises fundamental challenges for multilateral governance. Policy Implications• Diplomats need to speak of and to cities more regularly: rather than a 'novelty', cities have been repeatedly called upon by the United Nations over the last 50 years, with a growing formalised recognition as international 'actors'.• When establishing 'cities'-oriented projects and programmes, UN agencies and diplomats need to engage with a vast and already existing variety 'urban' recognitions, accounting for at least 1,246 acknowledgments in 32 UN frameworks since 1972.

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Pathways to Urban Transformation

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

Adaptive capacity in urban areas of developing countries

Adaptive capacity in urban areas of developing countries

Bottom-up Initiatives and Participatory Approaches for Outlooks

Acknowledging Urbanization: A Survey of the Role of Cities in UN Frameworks

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