Overview of the Articles in this Special Volume

Appendix 1: Overview of the Articles in this Special Volume

FULL PAPERS

Cities and Countries

Title, Authors and Summary

Themes

Cases Surveys On the role and capabilities of collaborative intermediary organisations in urban

Governance,

Cape Town,

sustainability transitions

South Africa Ralph Hamann

deliberation,

collaboration,

This article discussed opportunities and challenges in the governance of urban

inequality

sustainability transitions, with an emphasis on the role and necessary capabilities of collaborative intermediary organisations, which were defined as a particular type of intermediary organisation that can create platforms for deliberation and collaboration between diverse stakeholders. This article discusses two examples in Cape Town, South Africa, bringing to bear disparate socio-economic and institutional conditions in a city characterised by high degrees of inequality.

Organisation and governance for the transformation of urban energy systems:

Energy,

Aberdeen,

District heating and cooling in the UK

Woking and David Hawkey, Janette Webb, Mark Winskel

governance,

Birmingham, UK A number of UK urban authorities are developing combined heat and power with district heating and cooling networks as a means to achieve sustainable and affordable energy, and contribute to economic regeneration. This article studied the cities of Aberdeen, Woking and Birmingham to explore the local energy governance and organisation models adopted in the UK context of privatised, centralised energy markets. The authors of this article concluded that a balance between supportive government policy and locally knowledgeable action is necessary to establishing sustainable urban energy for heat and cooling.

collaboration

Infrastructures, Lock-in and Sustainable Urban Development: The Case of Waste

Waste,

Gothenburg,

Incineration in a Swedish Metropolitan Area

infrastructure lock- Sweden

Hervé Corvellec,

, Patrik Zapata

in, governance

Even infrastructures with a sustainability record may evolve over time into a lock-in that

obstructs the emergence of more innovative and sustainable technologies. Therefore, understanding the rationale of urban infrastructure lock-in is significant for the governance of cities towards more sustainability. Focusing on Gothenburg in Sweden, four paired dimensions of urban infrastructure lock-in were identified: legal and institutional; technological and economic; cultural and cognitive; and spatial and material.

Co-creating sustainability: Cross-sector university collaborations for driving

Collaboration,

Basel,

Data from 27

sustainable urban transformations

Switzerland cities in Europe, Gregory Trencher, Masaru Yarime, Ali Kharrazi

universities as

drivers for

Utica, USA

Middle East,

Partnerships between universities, industry, government and the community are

Asia and North potentially a powerful way of driving sustainable urban transformation. Through the

sustainability

America analysis of 27 partnerships in Europe, Middle East, Asia and North America, and the cities of Basel and Utica, the authors of this article created a theoretical framework to identify

common traits, motivations and roles assumed by universities when pursuing the goal of collaborating with others to advance sustainability in a specific urban location. This was termed as “co-creation for sustainability”.

From sustainable development to carbon control: Urban transformation governance Philosophy of

Hong Kong,

in Hong Kong and London

sustainability,

China

Paul Higgins

London, UK The author of this article explored the prevailing urban transformations of Hong Kong and management London in the light of a shift from sustainable development preoccupation to carbon control management by utilising the theorised concepts of “known unsustainability”, “commitment to a blessed way of life”, and “the discourse of opportunity” as key analytical guides. Although it is accepted that both economies have re-orientated their prevailing urban planning trajectories in the direction of sustainable development, and increasingly carbon control, the key question remains whether the proposed measures for mitigation are radical enough to avert the predicted crises.

carbon control

Planning for Climate Change in Urban Areas: A Review of Theoretical and Practical Climate adaptation, Data from a

Approaches

diversity of cities Christine Wamsler, Ebba Brink, Claudia Rivera

theory and practice

and countries City authorities are increasingly facing the challenge of finding ways to include adaptation

around the strategies into their work, although related knowledge is still scarce and fragmented. With

world the aim to address this knowledge gap, the objective of the authors of this article was to critically review and compare predominant theoretical and practical approaches to adaptation planning. Gaps and synergies between the theoretical and practical approaches to adaptation planning, and the implications for improving sustainable urban transformation are analysed based on data from around the world.

Lessons from the spread of bus rapid transit in Latin America

Data from 30 Santiago Mejia-

Transport, transition Lima, Peru

cities in Latin The authors of this article examined sustainable urban transformation and the

management

Bogota,

America dissemination of mobility concepts throughout Latin America. Transition management and

Colombia

Quito, Ecuador governance theory were used as support for the analysis of the adaptive, aligning nature

Curitiba, Brazil of the studied transportation systems. By using empirical data gathered from different bus rapid transit projects implemented in 30 locations in Latin America and in four cities in Lima, Bogota, Quito and Curitiba, the propagation pattern and the conditions for the system development was described and analysed.

Institutional entrepreneurship in sustainable urban development: Dutch successes Collaboration, Amsterdam,

as inspiration for transformation

institutional

Hoofddrop and

Rosalinde Klein Woolthuis, Fransje Hooimeijer, Bart Bossink, Guus Mulder, Jeroen

Culemborg, Brouwer

entrepreneurs

Netherlands The authors of this article framed urban transitions as a strategy for action between multi- disciplinary and multi-perspective stakeholders, and focused on the role of institutional entrepreneurs in realising sustainable urban developments, thereby showing future avenues for urban transitions. Based on examples from Amsterdam, Hoofddrop and Culemborg in the Netherlands, this article documented that institutional entrepreneurs are able to change the perceptions on what urban sustainability is thereby, changing the social cognitive institutions, they proposed and lobbied for changes in rules and regulations thereby, influencing the regulative political institutions and they showed how different business models and professionalisation of new knowledge and business practices can create value thereby, altering the economic normative institutions.

Transforming urban waste into sustainable material and energy usage: The case of Waste, networked Manchester, UK

Greater Manchester

infrastructures,

Elvira Uyarra, Sally Gee

collaboration,

By combining insights from urban studies and research dealing with ”systems innovation” governance and ”sustainable transitions”, the authors of this article focused on a transformation towards a more sustainable waste management system in the urban setting of Manchester in the UK, which underwent a shift from a relatively simple landfill model to a highly complex, multi-technology waste solution based on intensive recycling and composting, and sustainable energy usage. It showed how a mix of political vision, stakeholder collaboration, economies of scale, planning concerns, transport infrastructure, and the ability of waste disposal managers to gather expertise, resources, political influence and commitment at multiple levels of governance, dramatically influenced the outcome.

Urban transition labs: Co-creative action research for sustainable cities

Aberdeen, UK Frank Nevens, Niki Frantzeskaki, Leen Gorissen, Derk Loorbach

Collaboration,

Montreuil, In this article, ”urban transition labs” are presented by its authors as settings in which real management

transition

France life trajectories of sustainable development in cities are deployed and at the same time

Gent, Belgium carefully observed in a co-creative collaboration between actors and resea rchers (”action

Ludwigsburg, research”). Thereby, a ”transition management” approach was applied, resulting in a cycle

Germany of five distinct phases: process design and system analysis, problem structuring and

Rotterdam, envisioning, back casting, determining major pathways and agenda setting, experimenting

Netherlands and monitoring and evaluation. Utilising five cases of Aberdeen, Montreuil, Gent, Ludwigsburg and Rotterdam from Europe, this article shared findings about specific barriers and enablers that could determine the effectiveness of the envisaged approach.

The Zero Waste Index: A Performance Measurement Tool for Waste Management

Zero waste,

Adelaide,

Systems in a Zero Waste City

Australia Atiq Zaman, Steffen Lehmann

management

San Francisco,

Waste is the symbol of inefficiency of any modern society and a representation of

USA

misallocated resources. The authors of this article conceptualised the “zero waste city” Stockholm, and proposed a new tool to measure the performance of waste management systems

Sweden

called the “zero waste index”. This index forecasts the amount of virgin materials, energy, water and greenhouse gas emissions substituted by the resources that are recovered from waste streams. The zero waste index was applied to the three high consuming cities of Adelaide, San Francisco and Stockholm. It is evident that the zero waste index is an innovative tool to assess waste management performance and materials substitution by waste management systems in different cities.

What role for network governance in urban low carbon transitions?

Växjö, Sweden Data from Jamil Khan

Governance,

Europe, North Cities act in a world of multi-level governance where local decision-makers are

legitimacy

America and dependent on both higher political levels and other actors in society. In this situation

Australia network governance has emerged as a promising ”new mode of governance” where cities can increase both the legitimacy and implementation capacity of an ambitious climate agenda. In network governance, the municipality is a facilitator rather than commander and implementer. The aim of the authors of this article was to critically analyse the role of network governance in urban low carbon transitions. Building on original empirical research from Växjö in Sweden, this paper drew from, and merged, two different theoretical perspectives on governance: network governance and transition governance.

Egedal, Denmark Maj-Britt Quitzau, Jens Jensen, Morten Elle, Birgitte Hoffmann

Sustainable urban regime adjustments

Governance,

strategic planning,

The authors of this article raised the issue of how to more effectively address socio-

socio-technical

technical transitions in strategic processes concerning sustainable urban transformations. transitions More specifically, this article unfolded the strategic alignment work that is necessary to enable a sustainable transition, and pointed towards the need to recognise that ”horizontal” transition dynamics are fruitful, although these were somewhat downplayed in the socio- technical transition studies compared with ”vertical” dynamics. Through an in- depth study, Egedal in Denmark, which is a frontrunner in sustainable urban transformation, the authors showed how a more transitional form of planning was adopted in order to develop an energy efficient, new urban area.

Experiences in Urban Governance for Sustainability: The Constructive Dialogue in Governance Hofors, Kalmar,

Swedish Municipalities

Karlstad, Malmö, Nora Smedby, Lena Neij

collaboration,

Stockholm and The objective of the authors for this article was to assess experiences from Sweden of a

planning

Gothenburg, collaborative approach to urban environmental governance called the ”Constructive

Sweden

Dialogue”. These dialogue processes, implemented in six cities, including Hofors, Kalmar, Karlstad, Malmö, Stockholm and Gothenburg, involved players from different actor groups and various platforms for interaction that were formed in the participating cities. The goal Dialogue”. These dialogue processes, implemented in six cities, including Hofors, Kalmar, Karlstad, Malmö, Stockholm and Gothenburg, involved players from different actor groups and various platforms for interaction that were formed in the participating cities. The goal

Building social cohesion through small scale urban space redesign

New York, USA Natalia Radywyl, Che Biggs

Disruptive

innovations, public

The authors of this article argued for urban transformation strategies to embrace instability space and foster radical change as an emergent process. Drawing on resilience theory and disruptive innovations, the authors emphasised that strategies to re-activate existing urban commons, co-opt urban space and catalyse shifts in the public imaginary about ownership and use of public space are critical levers for radical urban change. Examples of innovative practices from New York in the USA highlighted the need for sustainable urban transformation to be community-led but facilitated through the distribution of agency locked within existing institutions. In this context, the urban change professional must play

a fine line between activating the public imaginary, buffering bottom-up innovations and even knowing when to support initiatives by tacitly allowing illegal activities that undermine dominant conceptions of the commons.

Resilient cities and organisational learning: Stimulating eco-cultural innovations

Data from 25 Hans Dieleman

Climate change,

cities around the In the context of climate change, the author presented the two dominant strategies of

resilience,

world mitigation and adaptation, and then presented a systems view of the city in which

organisational

learning

resilience is the key response to climate change. The author argued that resilience depends on three elements, dimensions or areas: infrastructure and technology, people and particularly the levels of human connectedness and communal self-reliance, and the innovative capacity within the local economy. Teaching and training were considered as an important element in strengthening resilience. The author presented a number of examples from around the world, which underscored the relevance of learning processes as key conditions to work successfully in urban networks.

Urban development projects and sustainable urban transformations: The need for

Governance,

Kortrijk, Belgium

entrepreneurial political leadership

political leadership

Thomas Block, Erik Paredis By providing a more precise understanding of urban political leadership and power configurations in decision-making processes of urban development projects in Belgium, the authors emphasised that lessons can be learned for sustainable urban transformation. While urban governance networks and distributed forms of governing may be typical of contemporary urban political configurations, the results from three urban projects in the city of Kortrijk showed the necessity of entrepreneurial political leadership in developing an agenda for sustainable urban transformation, in connecting policy streams and Thomas Block, Erik Paredis By providing a more precise understanding of urban political leadership and power configurations in decision-making processes of urban development projects in Belgium, the authors emphasised that lessons can be learned for sustainable urban transformation. While urban governance networks and distributed forms of governing may be typical of contemporary urban political configurations, the results from three urban projects in the city of Kortrijk showed the necessity of entrepreneurial political leadership in developing an agenda for sustainable urban transformation, in connecting policy streams and

Eco-Acupuncture: Designing and facilitating pathways for urban transformation, for Transitions, Melbourne,

Australia Chris Ryan

a resilient low-carbon future

resilience,

engagement,

This author reviewed a program of engagement with urban communities in the city of

governance

Melbourne in Australia, known as eco-acupuncture. The critical question addressed by this program that is considered in this article is how to effectively initiate and support rapid structural and cultural change within existing urban environments and communities, and to reconfigure urban form and life in anticipation of the projected impacts of climate change and peak oil. This is not a theoretical question. On the contrary, the policy challenges for governments in dealing with the rapid transition from a fossil carbon-based economy are significant. For local and city governments, where the connection with the concerns and fears of urban citizens can be most direct, where land-use planning decisions often intersect with projected climatic changes, and where vulnerability to energy pricing is already part of some community strategies, developing a coherent set of policies and programs for this transition has become a new priority.

SHORT PAPERS

Sustainable Urban Transformation in Small Cities in Egypt: A UN-Habitat

Environmental

Data from 50

Perspective

cities in Egypt Ihab Mohamed Shaalan

management, small

cities

Bridging the gap between science and practice: An ICLEI Perspective

Rajkot and Data from Laasya Bhagavatula, Cristina Garzillo, Richard Simpson

Collaboration,

governance

Coimbatore, Europe

India

This appendix provides an overview of the articles that appear in this Special Volume highlighting key themes and findings.