Abstract
AbstractCities are increasingly capturing the attention of major international actors and now regularly feature in multilateral processes. Yet while there are many studies on networking among cities, there have been few studies of ‘city networks’ as formal and institutionalized governance structures facilitating city‐to‐city and city‐to‐other actors cooperation, or ‘city diplomacy’. Institutionalized networks of cities, while not new, are becoming a growing presence on the international scene, almost omnipresent and perhaps even too common. Might it be time for a ‘Darwinian’ selection between city networking options? Diving deeper into this networked challenge, this essay focuses on the effects this networked diplomacy and overlap it might have on cities. Drawing on a research collaboration between the UCL City Leadership Laboratory at University College London and the World Health Organization's Healthy Cities Network and both a global dataset of city networks as well as qualitative focus group data, we consider the growth of these governance structures, their strengths, but also the weaknesses associated with their rapid growth, and how cities can engage with this networked landscape more strategically. In short, we argue that the potential of city networks must go hand‐in‐hand with more integrative and strategic thinking at both local and international levels.
Highlights
Cities are increasingly capturing the attention of major international actors such as UN agencies, EU and World Bank, regularly featuring in high-level talks such as the negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
We focus our snapshot of city diplomacy across this variety of networks, rather than in one specific geography, to offer a more realistic picture of the variety of formal relations cities have today within their own borders, across their region, and internationally, which all co-exist at the same time
A key function of networking, and one that is reflected in Healthy Cities, is their role as an information-sharing platforms aimed at empowering local initiatives (Bouteligier, 2014)
Summary
Cities are increasingly capturing the attention of major international actors such as UN agencies, EU and World Bank, regularly featuring in high-level talks such as the negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The partnership with WHO Healthy Cities at the basis of this paper highlights the need to bridge this science-policy gap, aiming at an integration of practicebased accounts with theoretical (scholarly) thinking Building on this ethos, the methodology underpinning the essay is two-fold: a large review of the landscape of city networks, upon which we draw preliminary policy considerations, and more in-depth interview-based explorations giving a glimpse of these issues in the context of a network. We focus our snapshot of city diplomacy across this variety of networks, rather than in one specific geography, to offer a more realistic picture of the variety of formal relations cities have today within their own borders, across their region, and internationally, which all co-exist at the same time This investigation paints an important backdrop to city diplomacy, flagging several issues of concern for both urban and global policy-making. Important strategic questions for cities that should be answered with more in-depth engagement with cities themselves
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