How Global Governance Impacts Transportation in Bogotá and Medellín
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Colby College Digital Commons @ Colby Honors Theses Student Research 2019 Do Global Cities Make Green Cities? How Global Governance Impacts Transportation In Bogotá and Medellín Eleanor Jackson Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/honorstheses Part of the Environmental Policy Commons, Latin American Studies Commons, Political Economy Commons, Social Influence and oliticalP Communication Commons, Transportation Commons, and the Urban Studies Commons Colby College theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed or downloaded from this site for the purposes of research and scholarship. Reproduction or distribution for commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the author. Recommended Citation Jackson, Eleanor, "Do Global Cities Make Green Cities? How Global Governance Impacts Transportation In Bogotá and Medellín" (2019). Honors Theses. Paper 969. https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/honorstheses/969 This Honors Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at Digital Commons @ Colby. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Colby. Do Global Cities Make Green Cities? How Global Governance Impacts Public Transportation in Bogotá and Medellín GLOBAL STUDIES HONORS THESIS Eleanor E. Jackson Advisor, First Reader: Professor Patrice Franko Second Reader: Professor Britt Halvorson i i Abstract This thesis examines how global and local governance has combined to deliver effective and sustainable public transportation in cities by comparing Bogotá’s bus rapid transit (BRT) system, TransMilenio, with Medellín’s mass transit system, STIMVA, often referred to as Metro de Medellín. After considering the rationales used to justify local and global authority over climate change, this analysis problematizes the supposed benefits of empowering global and local actors by highlighting the conflicts of interest that plague the elites who mediate the global and the local. In analyzing the global and local interactions, this work draws from extensive literature to highlight three potential risks of global governance that inhibit the benefits of empowering local actors to govern on climate change issues. The technocratic risk, where global actors encourage local governments to emphasize technical planning to the detriment of reading local opinion, the political risk, when political leaders hinge their careers on the transport system while also drawing on global validation that sets the system on precarious ground, and the neoliberal risk, where cities brand themselves to the point of emphasizing symbolic over systemic change in order to compete in the global capital market. Examining these risks helps to explain how the presence of multilateral governance during the creation of TransMilenio may have contributed to the lack of local support for the system as mayors relied too heavily on the political authority and technocratic rationales of global institutions. In contrast, the cases of Medellín and the Enrique Peñalosa’s second term in Bogotá, showcase the neoliberal risk as the multilevel governance system promotes city branding and empowers elite and private actors. ii Acknowledgements To all the Global Studies professors and to those in other departments who have taught me in these last four years, thank you for sharing your wisdom and for teaching me to think in new ways. I want to extend a very special thank you to my advisor, Professor Patrice Franko. This project would never have existed without her endless wisdom, patience, and encouragement throughout my four years at Colby. The hours spent talking through my ideas in her office, in her classes, and even in the field, were invaluable. I also want to thank Professor Britt Halvorson. Not only did her classes spark my interest in the influence of language on governance, but her advice throughout this process helped me see this material in new ways. I am deeply appreciative for Mr. David Hunt whose dedication to the Global Studies department and generous Hunt Grant allowed me to conduct field research during January. This field research would not have been possible without the cooperation and kindness of my interviewees and the support of Ambassador Robert Gelbard, Jaime Jaramillo-Vallejo, Rodrigo Puyo, Nancy Sanchez, Carlos Cadena, Carlos Moreno, and Julio Dávila. Each of these amazing people went out of their way to help me with this project. As always, I am incredibly grateful to my parents and my friends who supported me through every step of this project and learned far more about public transportation than they ever wanted to learn. iii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures and Tables ........................................................................................................... iv Chapter One: Introduction ...........................................................................................................1 A Brief History of Global Climate Change Governance .....................................................1 Case Selection ......................................................................................................................7 Literature to Date and Expansion of Research Question ...................................................11 Methodology ......................................................................................................................23 Hypothesis and Outline of Arguments ...............................................................................25 Chapter Two: Bogotá and Multilateral Institutions: Technocratic and Political Risks .......29 Introduction ........................................................................................................................29 Endogenous Environment ..................................................................................................30 Bogotá’s Responses to Global Governance Incentives: Co-Creation of TransMilenio ....34 The Technocratic Global Governance Risk .......................................................................40 The Political Global Governance Risk ..............................................................................42 Evidence of the Low of Local Engagement and Democratic Legitimacy .........................48 The Neoliberal Global Governance Risk in Bogotá: Private Bus Companies ...................51 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................53 Chapter Three: Medellín and the Neoliberal Risk of Global Governance .............................55 Introduction ........................................................................................................................55 Endogenous Environment ..................................................................................................56 Implications for TransMilenio: Re-Examining the Technocratic and Political Risks .......64 Medellín and Multilevel Governance: Competition for Global Capital ............................66 Buffers to the Neoliberal Global Governance Risks: Medellín’s Social Superpower .......75 Effects of The Neoliberal Global Governance Risk ..........................................................81 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................85 Chapter Four: Bogotá and the Neoliberal Global Governance Risk ......................................87 Introduction ........................................................................................................................87 The Neoliberal Risk: Towards Local Authority or Global Capital? ..................................88 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................93 Chapter Five: Conclusions and Future Work ...........................................................................95 Overview of the Argument: Insights for Climate Change Governance………………….95 Weaknesses in the Theoretical Framework and Questions for Future Research ...............98 Appendices ..................................................................................................................................100 Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................104 iv List of Tables and Figures Table 1: Key Aspects of Sustainability in Public Transportation ...........................................10 Table 2: Transportation in Each City ........................................................................................10 Table 3: Addressing Governing Problems in Climate Change ................................................13 Table 4: A Definition of Key Global Governance Risks ...........................................................22 Table 5: Division of PPP Powers in TransMilenio ....................................................................37 Table 6: Case