Diversity in collaboration: Networks in urban climate change governance

Abstract

Research on urban climate governance has grown rapidly over the last years. A number of local and regional projects and events show that cities play an important role in climate change protection activities. Successful urban climate change governance requires the collaboration of actors from various societal sectors as no single sector is able to unilaterally and successfully implement policies or programs that would affect almost all other socio-economic activities. This paper therefore seeks to examine the collaboration of diverse urban climate change actors. We analyze the connections between these individuals and climate protection-related organizations, projects and events. We also look at how diverse the different types of organizations are. Our empirical data consists of the organizational memberships of individual actors in a medium-sized German city, the attributes of these actors and their participation in organizations, projects or events related to climate protection. The data was collected through an online network survey. Our findings reveal the diversity of organizations and suggest a typology of climate change activists as well as a typology of climate change projects and organizations. The results of the study can be used to better coordinate and support the cooperation of different urban climate change protection actors.