Sustainable, green, and climate-resilient cities: an analysis of multilateral development banks

Abstract

ABSTRACT Climate change has exposed significant urban vulnerabilities in the Global North and South, leading to calls for sustainable, green, and climate-resilient (SGR) cities. The multilateral development banks (MDBs) financed projects and established initiatives to promote SGR cities during the 2010s. This article qualitatively analyses 60 SGR city projects financed by seven MDBs between December 2009 and August 2020. The contribution of the article is to analyse what the MDBs are financing: What types of projects are being approved? What are their objectives and components? What outcomes are hoped to be achieved? As a microcosm of broader MDB climate interventions, the article evaluates what the MDBs are prioritizing in their SGR city projects and what this means for development and climate change. The article concludes that while the projects advocate interventions to address climate change, maintain economic growth, and build more equitable cities, they conform to a narrow focus on infrastructural development, a technology-based approach that is uncertain to address the complex social and economic factors leading to human-induced climate change.