Showing papers by "Eric Chu published in 2018"

Urban climate adaptation and the reshaping of state–society relations: The politics of community knowledge and mobilisation in Indore, India

Abstract: Current research on climate change adaptation in cities highlights the role of local governments in facilitating adaptation actions, but rarely assesses whether (and if so, how) local communities o...

Transnational support for urban climate adaptation: emerging forms of agency and dependency

Abstract: Transnational actors are critical for financing programs and generating awareness around climate change adaptation in cities. However, it is unclear whether transnational support actually enables m...

The dilemmas of citizen inclusion in urban planning and governance to enable a 1.5 °C climate change scenario

Abstract: Cities around the world are facilitating ambitious and inclusive action on climate change by adopting participatory and collaborative planning approaches. However, given the major political, spatial, and scalar interdependencies involved, the extent to which these planning tools equip cities to realise 1.5 °C climate change scenarios is unclear. This article draws upon emerging knowledge in the fields of urban planning and urban climate governance to explore complementary insights into how cities can pursue ambitious and inclusive climate action to realise 1.5 °C climate change scenarios. We observe that urban planning scholarship is often under-appreciated in urban climate governance research, while conversely, promising urban planning tools and approaches can be limited by the contested realities of urban climate governance. By thematically reviewing diverse examples of urban climate action across the globe, we identify three key categories of planning dilemmas: institutional heterogeneity, scalar mismatch, and equity and justice concerns. We argue that lessons from urban planning and urban climate governance scholarship should be integrated to better understand how cities can realise 1.5 °C climate change scenarios in practice.

Socio-spatial legibility, discipline, and gentrification through favela upgrading in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract: This paper contributes to global perspectives on gentrification by interrogating the experiences of urban redevelopment and transformation in the global South. Through unpacking the contradictions ...

Inclusive Development and Climate Change:: The Geopolitics of Fossil Fuel Risks in Developing Countries

Abstract: This conceptual paper brings together two previously disparate strands of scholarship on climate change and development together with emerging studies of stranded assets. It addresses the question: What are the lessons learnt from this literature for the way developing countries should ‘develop’ in a post-Paris Agreement world? The paper argues that instead of a blind neo-colonial process of rapidly replicating the development paths of already industrialized countries – especially in the context of the fossil fuel sector – developing countries must adopt their own unique development strategies that are more inclusive and transformative. The foregone economic gains from not investing in fossil fuels maybe compensated by the reduced risks of stranded assets and climate change impacts in the future – as well as the reduced risks of climate change impacts on, for example, the agricultural sector – which may facilitate their own unique paths toward inclusive development.

Between Policies, Programs, and Projects: How Local Actors Steer Domestic Urban Climate Adaptation Finance in India

Abstract: In light of the slow progress in mobilizing international finance for climate adaptation in developing countries, a growing body of research promotes the idea of pooling blended forms of climate finance to leverage limited financial flows and enhance domestic control over allocation and accountability. Yet the constraints imposed by weaknesses in existing urban public finance institutions complicates perspectives on climate finance that envision the smooth pooling of blended finance from multiple sources across multiple scales. This chapter presents the case of Surat in India to illustrate how city governments can sustain an innovative approach to local climate adaptation while switching between various sources of funding. In this chapter, we ask two research questions: How do local governments that wish to pursue climate adaptation, often outside a comprehensive planning framework, steer these efforts around the numerous institutional, operational, and political constraints at the local level? Second, when the pursuit of climate adaptation is supported by time-bound external funding sources, how do local governments sustain action while switching between different types of financial flows? In the case of Surat, we find that the city is beginning to intentionally draw on intergovernmental fiscal transfers and, increasingly, their own local revenue resources. Such an implementation pathway emerges from the local government’s ability to innovatively identify specific adaptation and development co-benefits and to exploit this with projects funded by existing and forthcoming streams of public revenue. Surat’s experience suggests that, in contrast to pooling, cities will have to strategically steer climate adaptation action around local fiscal constraints created by the different governance logics associated with policies, programs, and projects.

Conclusion:: Multilevel Governance and Climate Change Innovations in Cities

Abstract: This book explored the extent to which cities across the global North and South are able to harness the innovative and creative potential of multilevel pathways of resource, capacity, and authority to support climate change action. While the potential of cities and city regions to offer innovative strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation is well recognized, the work of realizing this potential is still in its infancy. To address this gap, scholars and practitioners must interrogate the political, economic, and social perquisites of urban innovation pathways; the multilevel opportunities and trade-offs associated with “urban” governments that are increasingly taking on nontraditional forms; and finally, recognize that different ideologies, interests, and authorities are mediated in the process of governing climate change innovations in cities. Without addressing these issues head-on, cities will be unable to realize the full potential of innovations toward more climate resilient, inclusive, and socially just urban futures.

The Grounding for a Fossil Fuel Free World: Integrating Climate Change Education into Secondary Schools

Abstract: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recognises the importance of a shared baseline of awareness and knowledge to mobilise commitment to address climate change. Schools can provide the first opportunity for this, with life-long impact in behaviour. While Western countries are regarded as relatively “advanced” in these activities, and have higher levels of awareness, there is little literature on how states engage with climate change education and sparse empirical data on the specifics of different political and institutional arrangements that shape the implementation of such education. Against this background, this chapter addresses the question: How is climate change learning being integrated into secondary school education? It examines the policy underpinnings for climate change education and related scholarly debates. It compares England, Netherlands, France and Belgium, showing how different approaches and implementation processes favour particular competences, knowledge, values or behaviour. It concludes that a centralised policy approach is effective in widespread implementation, while a decentralised policy approach relies on the commitment of teachers. Partisan and ideological battles at the national level influence curriculum development, and political struggles influence how climate science is taught. A rounded climate change education demands political consciousness, yet is incompatible with mainstream education that accepts the status quo. Without consistent advocacy, support and direction by policymakers, climate education may stagnate, lack purpose and add to public confusion.

The shifting geographies of climate justice : Mobile vulnerabilities in and across Indian cities

Abstract: This chapter takes the cases of Bangalore and Surat in India to examine how the reorganisation of labour, together with its associated economic networks and spatial infrastructure, is emblematic of the shifting interconnections between uncertain climate change risks and experiences of local economic transformations. Through documenting migrants’ exposure to varying forms of vulnerability, the chapter illustrates the mobility of climate injustice across space via pathways of labour informality and environmental marginality. The chapter theorises the shifting geographies of climate injustice within and across the ill-defined boundaries of the “urban” in the Global South. It concludes that first, spatially and temporally “static” definitions of climate justice fail to account for the mobility of people and transfer of vulnerabilities across space. Second, climate justice theories must encompass priorities to transform economic structures underlying economic informality. Future research must therefore examine the multiple intersections of urban labour, identity politics and economic marginalisation under climate change in the Global South.