sustainable cities: understanding the role of institutions, politics and environmental governance...

Sustainable Cities:Understanding the Role of Institutions, Politics

and Environmental Governance

Sara Hughes

ASP Research ReviewNational Center for Atmospheric Research

March 7, 2012

Road Map

I. The Policy Systema) Governance, Institutions, and Politics

II. Sustainable Citiesa) Status and Trendsb) Cities and Climate Planning

III. Justice in Climate Planning: Delhi and Mexico City

Governance, Institutions, and Politics

The Policy System

Environmental Governance

“The set of regulatory processes, mechanisms and organizations

through which political actors influence environmental actions and outcomes.”

Lemos, Maria Carmen and Arun Agrawal. 2006. “Environmental Governance,” Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 31:297-325.

Layer Cake Federalism (Old View)

Marble Cake Federalism (New View)

Environmental Governance

Institutions

The rights, rules and procedures that structure behavior and decision making

outcomes.

They are what a society or community uses to make collectively binding

decisions, implement these decisions, resolve disputes, and punish rule-

breakers.

Young, Oran. 2002. The Institutional Dimensions of Environmental Change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Rothstein, Bo. 1996. “Political Institutions: An Overview” in A New Handbook of Political Science. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Institutions

Voting rules in Congress

Decision making procedures in international negotiations

Public participation processesin city code revisions

Institutions and the Environment

• Resources need regulatory control or property rights

• Humans doomed to over-exploit

• Variety of arrangements

• Complex, cooperative decision making behavior

• New suite of tools

Institutions and the Environment

• Resources need regulatory control or property rights

• Humans doomed to over-exploit

Politics

Sustainable Cities

An Increasingly Urban World

Sustainable Cities

Cities are Sources of CO2 Emissions

Sustainable Cities

Cities are Sites of Impacts

Expanded Urban Heat IslandsUncertainty in Water Supplies

Cities and Climate Planning

Cities are Sources of Innovation and Policy Action

The tools and processes cities use to develop a strategy for managing their carbon emissions and adapting to the

possible consequences of climate change


Cities in developing/industrializing countries are increasingly planning for

climate change


Mexico City Pact: 208 cities representing 250 million people

197 cities (95%) are from developing/industrializing countries


• Vulnerabilities are particularly acute – Extreme events– Exacerbating existing problems of

poverty and environmental stress

• Critical that urban climate governance generates local and equitably distributed benefits



Sea Level Rise Rio de Janeiro

Source: Reuters, 2009Source: Andrea Ferraz Young, 2011

FloodingMexico City



• Critical that urban climate governance generates local and equitably distributed benefits


Source: Dr. Peter Kim Streatfield, ICDDR,B



• Critical that urban climate governance generates locally tangible and equitably distributed benefits




• Critical that urban climate governance generates locally tangible and equitably distributed benefits

• Major gap in urban climate governance research is the implications for equity and justice (Bulkeley 2010)


Developing Research Questions


1. What are the implications of urban climate planning for justice in the city?

And

2. Do different governance conditions engage different mechanisms of justice/injustice in urban climate planning?


1. Representation of Disadvantaged Groups in Planning (Process)

2. Priority Setting and Framing that Recognizes the Needs of Disadvantaged Groups (Outcomes)

3. Benefits and Their Distribution Enhance Freedoms and Capabilities of Disadvantaged Groups (Outcomes)


1. What are the implications of urban climate planning for justice in the city?

And

2. Do different governance conditions engage different mechanisms of justice/injustice in urban climate planning?

Governance Conditions

Urban Climate Planning

City Governmen

t and Policies

Governance Conditions

Intergovernmental Organizations and International

Negotiations

National Policies

State Policies

Urban Climate Planning

Private

NGO

Public

City Governmen

t and Policies

Engaging Mechanisms

Participation and

Coalitions

Priority Setting and

Framing

Distribution of Benefits

Justice in Planning

Outcomes

Engaging Mechanisms

Political Economy of

Urban Poverty

Institutional Capacities

Technocractic Governance

Thick Injustice

Mechanisms of Injustice

Participation and

Coalitions

Priority Setting and

Framing

Distribution of Benefits

Justice in Planning

Outcomes

Institutions and Justice

Mechanism of Injustice

Importance in City-led

Importance in State-led

Technocratic Governance

Institutional Capacities

Research Design: Evaluate climate planning in Delhi and

Mexico City



1. Identify the affected and disadvantaged populations in each city

2. Evaluate whether and how these communities are included in participation and coalition building, priority setting and framing, and the distribution of benefits

3. Why were communities included or not?

Climate Plans and Interviews

Secondary Data Interviews

Institutions and JusticeImproved understanding:

1. Theory: mechanisms of injustice and the intervening effect of institutions

2. Obstacles and opportunities for greater justice in top down and bottom up systems of urban climate planning

3. Relationship between where and how (climate) planning occurs and the benefits that are experienced.

Thank You

Thank You

sustainable cities: understanding the role of institutions, politics and environmental governance...

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