Cities and climate change science after Edmonton: Knowledge, people, and organisations' influence and outreach

Abstract

The sustainability conundrum necessitates problem-solving research, and a transdisciplinary approach offers a way to find solutions transferable to scientific and societal practice. One such transdisciplinary research process took place at the Cities and Climate Change Science Conference in Edmonton, Canada, in, 2018. This paper uses an evaluation framework for the implementation of co-created knowledge and a knowledge mobilisation approach to evaluate uptake of the research output, a Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science. Surveys, a workshop, interviews, case studies, post-conference documentation and publications were analysed. A variety of stakeholders across science-policy-practice brought forward conference goals and outputs. Applying a knowledge mobilities approach in tandem with the evaluation framework revealed the contribution of individuals, who in the absence of formalised implementation, were largely responsible for postconference knowledge mobilisation. The transdisciplinary approach was justified since practice partners played an important implementation role. There was publication reach to the scientific context, but most of the non-peer-review publications were closed access, a challenge for Global South and practitioner policy mobility. The study demonstrated how the evaluation framework could be modified for application in future research, yet while it emphasized the importance of generality and implementability, the terms were not congruent with cities and climate change science, since cities require context specific evidence. Ascertaining and localising city research needs, and harnessing lessons learned for the next iterations of the conference, the Innovate4Cities Conferences, are important future steps in closing the gap of cities' knowledge needs on climate change science.