Climate Urbanism

Climate change demands urgent action. This call is heard most loudly in rapidly growing urban areas. Cities are key to implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement; a coordinated policy effort to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.

By focusing on cities as the most appropriate site of action and prioritising the protection of infrastructures, climate urbanism is transforming the fabric of everyday life.

This theme examines the history, processes and implications of the rise of climate urbanism as a model for urban development.

Research Questions

What is climate urbanism and how does it differ from other models of urbanisation?
What perspectives inform climate urbanism and with what consequences for how we plan and govern our cities?
How, where, and why is climate urbanism embraced, promoted, or contested?
How is climate urbanism transforming the physical and social fabric of urban life?

The team

Director: Vanesa Castán Broto

Associates: Jenny Pickerill | Pauline McGuirk | Xira Ruiz Campillo | Anne Maassen

Publications

Papers and reports

Castán Broto, V., & Kirshner, J. (2020). Energy access is needed to maintain health during pandemics. Nature Energy, 1-3.
Castán Broto, V., (2020). Climate change politics and the urban contexts of messy governmentalities. Territory, Politics, Governance, 8(2), 241-258.
Castán Broto, V., & Westman, L. K. (2020). Ten years after Copenhagen: Reimagining climate change governance in urban areas. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 11(4), e643.
Huang, P., & Li, P. (2020). Politics of urban energy transitions: new energy vehicle (NEV) development in Shenzhen, China. Environmental Politics, 29(3), 524-545.
Huang, P., & Liu, Y. (2020). Toward just energy transitions in authoritarian regimes: indirect participation and adaptive governance. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 1-21.
Yu, Z., & Huang, P. (2020). Local governments’ incentives and governing practices in low-carbon transition: A comparative study of solar water heater governance in four Chinese cities. Cities, 96, 102477.
Huang, P., Castán Broto, V., & Westman, L. K. (2020). Emerging dynamics of public participation in climate governance: A case study of solar energy application in Shenzhen, China. Environmental Policy and Governance.
Unnikrishnan, H., Nagendra, H., & Castán Broto, V. (2020). Water governance and the colonial urban project: the
Dharmambudhi lake in Bengaluru, India. Urban Geography, 1-26.
Kirshner, J., Castán Broto, V., & Baptista, I. (2020). Energy landscapes in Mozambique: The role of the extractive industries in a post-conflict environment. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 52(6)
Westman, L. K., & Castán Broto, V. (2019). Techno-economic rationalities as a political practice in urban environmental politics in China. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 37(2), 277-297.
Castán Broto, V., Trencher, G., Iwaszuk, E., & Westman, L. (2019). Transformative capacity and local action for urban sustainability. Ambio, 48(5), 449-462.
Westman, L. K., Castán Broto, V., & Huang, P. (2019). Revisiting multi-level governance theory: Politics and innovation in the urban climate transition in Rizhao, China. Political Geography, 70, 14-23.
Lo, K., & Castán Broto, V. (2019). Co-benefits, contradictions, and multi-level governance of low-carbon experimentation: Leveraging solar energy for sustainable development in China. Global Environmental Change, 59, 101993.
Castán Broto, V., & Sudhira, H. S. (2019). Engineering modernity: Water, electricity and the infrastructure landscapes of Bangalore, India. Urban Studies, 56(11), 2261-2279.
Castán Broto, V., & Neves Alves, S. (2018). Intersectionality challenges for the co-production of urban services: notes for a theoretical and methodological agenda. Environment and Urbanization, 30(2), 367-386.
Mulugetta, Y., & Castán Broto, V., (2018). Harnessing deep mitigation opportunities of urbanisation patterns in LDCs. Current opinion in environmental sustainability, 30, 82-88.
Huang, P., Castán Broto, V., Liu, Y., & Ma, H. (2018). The governance of urban energy transitions: A comparative study of solar water heating systems in two Chinese cities. Journal of cleaner production, 180, 222-231.
Westman, L., & Castán Broto, V. (2018). Climate governance through partnerships: A study of 150 urban initiatives in China. Global Environmental Change, 50, 212-221.
Huang, P., Castán Broto, V., & Liu, Y. (2018). From “transitions in cities” to “transitions of cities”: The diffusion and adoption of solar hot water systems in urban China. Energy research & social science, 36, 156-164.
Huang, P., & Castán Broto, V. (2018). Interdependence between urban processes and energy Transitions: The dimensions of urban energy transitions (DUET) framework. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 28, 35-45.
Castán Broto, V., Baptista, I., Kirshner, J., Smith, S., & Alves, S. N. (2018). Energy justice and sustainability transitions in Mozambique. Applied Energy, 228, 645-655.

Books

Castán Broto, V. (2019). Urban energy landscapes. Cambridge University Press.
Castán Broto, V., & Westman, L. (2019). Urban Sustainability and Justice: Just Sustainabilities and Environmental Planning. Zed Books Ltd.

Research projects

Low Carbon Action in Ordinary Cities (LOACT) (PI: Professor Vanesa Castán Broto).Funder: European Research Council https://www.loactproject.com/
Community Energy and Sustainable Energy Transitions in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique (CESET) (PI: Professor Vanesa Castán Broto) Funders: Economic and Social Research Council and the Global Challenges Research Fund
Tales from long ago: the lost lakes of Bengaluru and their relevance for modern times (PI: Dr Hita Unnikrishnan) Funder: British Academy Newton International Fellowship
Off-Grid Cities: The financial mediations of life off the grid in two African Cities (PI: Dr Enora Robin) Funder: Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship
Community Energy and Just Energy Transitions in Ghana (PI: Dr Enora Robin) Funder: University of Sheffield and Global Challenges Research Fund