The Governance of Climate Strategies in Metropolitan Cities

Project Overview

Projekt title: The Governance of Climate Strategies in Metropolitan Cities

Research object/goal: Climate change and its consequences are among the most urgent challenges of our time. Cities and metropolitan regions are increasingly becoming the focus of public and scientific debate, as they are responsible for more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Even though climate change has long been understood as a global problem that does not stop at national borders, cities and their contribution to mitigating climate change and adapting to its consequences are coming to the forefront. This raises the question of how metropolitan cities can develop and implement climate strategies that prove effective and enjoy the necessary legitimacy among citizens. Embedded in a research consortium under the leadership of the Technical University of Berlin, the project team of the University of Potsdam is investigating these questions within the framework of a comparative case study. The expertise on participatory and administrative governance will be incorporated into the consortium's full proposal, which is expected to lead to the establishment of a groundbreaking interdisciplinary research center for Berlin-Brandenburg and metropolitan regions worldwide.

Heads of project: Prof. Dr. Sabine Kuhlmann, Prof. Dr. Fabian Schuppert (University Potsdam)

Project team: Tomás Vellani, Franziska Oehlert, Janina Walkenhorst (University Potsdam)

Duration of project: 10/2020-12/2023

We often read about the Anthropocene, the human age. The influence of humans on the planet has never been as great as it is today. The term is also used to infer "our" responsibility for the future of the planet. Cities are looking for solutions to mitigate climate change and adapt to the already noticeable consequences, such as increasing heat waves. As a cross-cutting issue, climate policy encompasses different sectors such as energy, housing and transport, which makes strategy formulation complex and requires coordinated action between political and administrative actors, local businesses, civil society organizations and, last but not least, citizens.

The project investigates how different metropolitan cities develop and implement their climate strategies with the involvement of non-state actors and which factors have an influence on the different forms of urban climate governance. The study covers the input level and thus questions around citizen participation and legitimacy as well as the throughput and output level, which deals with administrative structures and processes.

Methodologically, the project is based on (1) secondary analyses of urban climate governance and (2) case studies in four European cities (Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Budapest) and one South American city (Buenos Aires), which provide closer insights into the concrete impact contexts of climate governance "on the ground".

The pilot study at the University of Potsdam is part of a preparatory module for a planned inter- and transdisciplinary climate research center - the Einstein Center Climate Change and Public Policy of Human Settlements (ECCC). More information on the planned ECCC center can be found here: https://www.climate-change.center/#open

A report on the World Mayors Summit in Buenoes Aires where the project was presented can be found here.