Reframing the problem : 'from climate change in urban areas' to 'urban governance in an era of climate change'

Abstract

Bangladesh is the country most likely to experience severe problems because of its vulnerability to climate change (Roy et. al, 2011, Harmeling, 2010). In some ways it has and is responding well to these challenges through the production of the “Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan” and the international role it is playing in promoting climate change mitigation and demanding resources for adaptation. However, the focus of policy and action in Bangladesh is on food security and adapting to climate change in rural areas; research, policy and action on adaptation in urban areas, and particularly for low-income settlements and poor people, has been neglected (Banks, Roy and Hulme, 2011). This paper presents the initial findings on work in low-income urban settlements examining household and community capacity to adapt to climate change. It finds that adaptation is integrally linked to urban governance and that the ‘real world’ of informal urban governance is as important (perhaps more important) as the official system of urban governance in supporting and constraining capacities to adapt. We explain this informal governance structure, analyze its formation process and explore its strengths and weaknesses. Our analysis indicates that this network based de-facto structure relies heavily on the existing power relations that the poor can access and is unlikely to produce environmentally sustainable or socially just outcomes in the long run. We use the concept of co-production and the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework (Ostrom, 2005, 2010) to structure our analysis.