Abstract
Urban sustainability is governed beyond the urban scale through trans-local networks and assemblages of actors and institutions. There is an emerging field of interest that aims to understand the outcomes of urban sustainability interventions, both from the environmental and social equity perspectives. This paper contributes to the literature on governing urban environmental sustainability transitions, with a distinct focus on small and intermediary cities of the global South. Actors in cities of the global South are adopting a variety of ways towards achieving urban sustainability transitions in the realm of disaster risk reduction, adaptation building, greenhouse gas emission reduction, and natural resource management. Our paper employs an analytical framework derived from Bai et. al. (2010) to chart the actors, drivers, finances, barriers, and the inclusivity and sustainability outcomes in seven interventions led by different actors. Five of the cases are drawn extensively from literature, while two case studies reflect on our primary engagement in the cities of Nakuru in Kenya and Udon Thani in Thailand. We find that the actors leading and financing the projects and the drivers of the intervention can explain differential outcomes in the inclusion processes and the framing of environmental solutions. We then delineate the opportunities and barriers to achieve multi-level governance approaches that are relevant to planning transformations in the South.
Highlights
Research on multi-level governance has largely focused on sustainability transitions in primary cities (Bulkeley and Betsill, 2005, 2013; Castán Broto and Bulkeley, 2013; Gouldson et al, 2016; Lee, 2014; Ong, 2011)
We find that the actors leading and financing the projects and the drivers of the intervention can explain differential outcomes in the inclusion processes and the framing of environmental solutions
Systematic attempts to make sense of how the environment is governed in small and intermediary cities across the global South using comparative techniques are largely missing with a few notable exceptions (Anguelovski et al, 2014; Bai et al, 2010; McEvoy et al, 2014)
Summary
Research on multi-level governance has largely focused on sustainability transitions in primary cities (Bulkeley and Betsill, 2005, 2013; Castán Broto and Bulkeley, 2013; Gouldson et al, 2016; Lee, 2014; Ong, 2011). These case studies highlight the potentials and challenges in realizing urban sustainability interventions including community-based adaptation measures, disaster risk responses, and multi-level environmental governance initiatives. Through the Udon Charter for 2029, a multi-stakeholder vision for the city, the city is committed to achieving six policy points, driven by the objective of becoming a green city focused on MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) It seeks to increase Gross Provincial Product, become an employment hub for MICE and green jobs, narrow the inequality gap, have a walkable urban core, and minimize the impact on global climate change.
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