Sustainable Cities:
Understanding the Role of Institutions, Politics
and Environmental Governance
Sara Hughes
ASP Research Review
National Center for Atmospheric Research
March 7, 2012
Road Map
I. The Policy System
a) Governance, Institutions, and Politics
II. Sustainable Cities
a) Status and Trends
b) Cities and Climate Planning
III.Justice in Climate Planning: Delhi and
Mexico City
The Policy System
Governance, Institutions, and
Politics
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.
Environmental Governance
Layer Cake Federalism
(Old View)
Marble Cake Federalism
(New View)
Institutions
The rights, rules and procedures that
structure behavior and decision making
outcomes.
Young, Oran. 2002. The Institutional Dimensions of Environmental Change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
They are what a society or community
uses to make collectively binding
decisions, implement these decisions,
resolve disputes, and punish rulebreakers.
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 processes
in city code revisions
Institutions and the Environment
• Resources need
regulatory control or
property rights
• Humans doomed to
over-exploit
Institutions and the Environment
• Variety of
arrangements
• Complex, cooperative
decision making
behavior
• New suite of tools
• 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
Uncertainty in Water Supplies
Expanded Urban Heat Islands
Cities and Climate Planning
Cities are Sources of Innovation and Policy
Action
Cities and Climate Planning
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 and Climate Planning
Cities in developing/industrializing countries
are increasingly planning for climate change
Cities and Climate Planning
Mexico City Pact:
208 cities representing 250 million people
197 cities (95%) are from
developing/industrializing countries
Cities and Climate Planning
• 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
Cities and Climate Planning
Sea Level Rise
Rio de Janeiro
Source: Andrea Ferraz Young, 2011
Flooding
Mexico City
Source: Reuters, 2009
Cities and Climate Planning
• 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
Source: Dr. Peter Kim Streatfield, ICDDR,B
Cities and Climate Planning
• Vulnerabilities are particularly acute
– Extreme events
– Exacerbating existing problems of poverty
and environmental stress
• Critical that urban climate governance
generates locally tangible and equitably
distributed benefits
Cities and Climate Planning
• Vulnerabilities are particularly acute
– Extreme events
– Exacerbating existing problems of poverty
and environmental stress
• 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
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?
Developing Research Questions
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)
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?
Governance Conditions
City
Government
and Policies
Urban Climate
Planning
Governance Conditions
Public
Intergovernmental Organizations
and International Negotiations
National
Policies
City
Government
and Policies
Urban Climate
Planning
NGO
State
Policies
Private
Governance Conditions
Public
Intergovernmental Organizations
and International Negotiations
National
Policies
City
Government
and Policies
Urban Climate
Planning
NGO
State
Policies
Private
Governance Conditions
Public
Intergovernmental Organizations
and International Negotiations
National
Policies
City
Government
and Policies
Urban Climate
Planning
NGO
State
Policies
Private
Engaging Mechanisms
Justice in
Planning
Outcomes
Participation
and
Coalitions
Priority
Setting and
Framing
Distribution
of Benefits
Engaging Mechanisms
Mechanisms
of Injustice
Political
Economy of
Urban Poverty
Technocractic
Governance
Thick
Injustice
Justice in
Planning
Outcomes
Participation
and
Coalitions
Priority
Setting and
Framing
Distribution
of Benefits
Institutional
Capacities
Engaging Mechanisms
Mechanisms
of Injustice
Political
Economy of
Urban Poverty
Technocractic
Governance
Thick
Injustice
Justice in
Planning
Outcomes
Participation
and
Coalitions
Priority
Setting and
Framing
Distribution
of Benefits
Institutional
Capacities
Institutions and Justice
Mechanism
of Injustice
Technocratic
Governance
Institutional
Capacities
Importance in Importance
City-led
in State-led
Institutions and Justice
Research Design:
Evaluate climate planning in Delhi and
Mexico City
Institutions and Justice
Institutions and Justice
Institutions and Justice
1. Identify the
affected and
disadvantaged
populations in
each city
2. Evaluate
3. Why were
whether and
communities
how these
included or
communities are
not?
included in
participation
and coalition
building, priority
setting and
framing, and the
distribution of
benefits
Secondary Data
Climate Plans and
Interviews
Interviews
Institutions and Justice
Improved 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