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Governance, Functions, and Traits of European Transnational Municipal Networks – an Evaluation by Means of German Member Cities

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Governance, Functions, and Traits of European Transnational Municipal Networks – an Evaluation by Means of German Member Cities Master thesis in Sustainable Development 248 Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling Governance, Functions, and Traits of European Transnational Municipal Networks – an Evaluation by Means of German Member Cities Sascha Oppowa DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES INSTITUTIONEN FÖR GEOVETENSKAPER Master thesis in Sustainable Development 248 Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling Governance, Functions, and Traits of European Transnational Municipal Networks – an Evaluation by Means of German Member Cities Sascha Oppowa Supervisor: Marcus Carson Evaluator: Lars Rudebeck Copyright © Sascha Oppowa and the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University Published at Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University (www.geo.uu.se), Uppsala, 2015 Content 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Aim and purpose .............................................................................................................. 2 1.2. Outline .............................................................................................................................. 2 2. Background: cities, climate change and climate politics ............................................... 3 2.1. The bidirectional relations between cities and climate change ........................................ 3 2.1.1. The impacts of climate change on cities ......................................................................... 3 2.1.2. The impacts of cities on climate change ......................................................................... 3 2.1.3. The TMNs’ problematisation of urban contributions to climate change........................ 4 2.2. Cities’ unique position to deal with emissions ................................................................. 4 2.2.1. Modes for cities to govern climate protection ................................................................ 4 2.3. Municipalities joining forces – the rise of TMNs ............................................................ 5 2.4. TMNs promoting the urban role and cities’ interests ....................................................... 6 2.4.1. TMNs’ lobbying efforts at the international level .......................................................... 6 2.4.2. Recognition of the urban role: international level .......................................................... 7 2.4.3. Recognition of the urban role: European level ............................................................... 8 3. Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................... 9 3.1. Multi-level governance .................................................................................................... 9 3.1.1. The concept of governance ............................................................................................. 9 3.1.2. The development of multi-level governance: describing the scales of the EU .............. 9 3.1.3. Multi-level governance: describing transnational municipal networks ........................ 10 3.1.4. Polycentric systems ...................................................................................................... 11 3.2. Network Governance ...................................................................................................... 11 3.2.1. General characteristics of TMNs .................................................................................. 11 3.2.2. Defining network governance ...................................................................................... 12 3.2.3. Features of network effectiveness ................................................................................ 13 3.2.4. The structure of TMNs ................................................................................................. 14 3.2.5. Functions provided by TMNs ....................................................................................... 14 4. Method and Research Area ............................................................................................ 17 4.1. Methodology .................................................................................................................. 17 4.2. Method ........................................................................................................................... 17 4.3. Research Area ................................................................................................................ 19 4.3.1. Sample criteria .............................................................................................................. 19 4.3.2. Overview of conducted interviews ............................................................................... 19 4.3.3. Units of analysis: the transnational municipal networks (TMNs) ................................ 20 4.3.4. Units of analysis: the cities ........................................................................................... 22 5. Results .............................................................................................................................. 27 5.1. Findings regarding the TMNs’ governance and features ............................................... 27 5.1.1. Governance of the TMNs ............................................................................................. 27 5.1.2. Classification of the TMNs .......................................................................................... 27 5.1.3. Network effectiveness of the TMNs ............................................................................. 28 5.2. Findings regarding the TMNs’ functions ....................................................................... 29 5.2.1. Lobbying ....................................................................................................................... 29 5.2.2. Information management .............................................................................................. 31 5.2.3. Contact platform ........................................................................................................... 31 5.2.4. Supporting projects ....................................................................................................... 31 5.2.5. Awareness raising ......................................................................................................... 32 5.2.6. Communication ............................................................................................................ 32 5.3. Network-specific findings .............................................................................................. 32 5.3.1. ICLEI ............................................................................................................................ 32 5.3.2. Climate Alliance ........................................................................................................... 33 II 5.3.3. Energy Cities ................................................................................................................ 34 5.3.4. EUROCITIES ............................................................................................................... 35 5.4. Cooperation and competition among TMNs .................................................................. 36 5.4.1. Other forums for cooperation mentioned ..................................................................... 37 5.5. Network focus and involvement .................................................................................... 37 5.5.1. Focus of network activity in selected TMNs ................................................................ 37 5.5.2. Level of network involvement ...................................................................................... 38 6. Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 40 6.1. Cities’ usage of the TMNs ............................................................................................. 40 6.1.1. Unique selling points of each TMN ............................................................................. 40 6.1.2. Trend: reasons for cities’ involvement in certain TMNs .............................................. 40 6.2. Reflections ...................................................................................................................... 42 6.3. Further research questions .............................................................................................. 42 7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 43 8. Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................... 45 9. References ........................................................................................................................ 46 10. Appendix .......................................................................................................................... 53 10.1. Interview guide: cities .................................................................................................. 53 10.2. Interview guide: networks ............................................................................................ 55 III List of figures Figure 1 Multi-level governance framework for cities (in: OECD, 2010, p.207) .................... 10 Figure 2 Governing
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