Citizen Participation and Climate Change within an Urban Community Context: Insights for Policy Development for Bottom-Up Climate Action Engagement

Abstract

Citizen-led mitigation and adaptation are key to climate policy advancement and acceleration, particularly within an urban development context. The top-down approach requires the development of clear action plans for the involvement and engagement of citizens to accelerate bottom-up climate mitigation and adaptation efforts within the urban context. In Malaysia, there are national policy strategies such as the 12th Malaysia Plan, the National Urban Wellbeing Blueprint, the National Climate Change Policy, and the Malaysian New Urban Agenda. However, a successful implementation of climate policies can only be achieved when citizens are adequately socialized to policy impacts. This paper explores citizen perceptions and attitudes toward participation in mitigation and adaptation efforts for climate action within an urban context. Underpinned by the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Transtheoretical Theory, this study explored the approach of citizen participation as a possible tool for assessing climate policy effectiveness for bottom-up climate mitigation and adaptation efforts within an urban context. The study was set within the Malaysian urban context, given the limited empirical evidence in the area. The findings of the study suggest that a bottom-up approach to citizen participation through education, awareness, and inclusive climate policy formulation procedures will result in positive attitudes toward citizen participation.