Cities and Low Carbon Transitions
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Cities and Low Carbon Transitions Current societies face unprecedented risks and challenges connected to climate change. Addressing them will require fundamental transformations in the infrastructures that sustain everyday life, such as those relating to energy, water, waste and mobility. A transition to a ‘low carbon’ future implies a large-scale reorganisation in the way societies produce and use energy. Cities are critical in this transition because they concentrate social and economic activities that produce climate change-related emissions. At the same time, cities are increasingly recognised as sources of opportunities for climate change mitigation. Whether, how and why low carbon transitions in urban systems take place in response to climate change will therefore be decisive for the success of global mitigation efforts. As a result, climate change increasingly features as a critical issue in the management of urban infrastructure and in urbanisation policies. Cities and Low Carbon Transitions presents a ground-breaking analysis of the role of cities in low carbon socio-technical transitions. Insights from the fields of urban studies and technological transitions are combined to examine how, why and with what implications cities bring about low carbon transitions. The book outlines the key concepts underpinning theories of socio-technical transition and assesses their potential strengths and limits for understanding the social and technological responses to climate change that are emerging in cities. It draws on a diverse range of examples including world cities, ordinary cities and transition towns, from North America, Europe, South Africa and China, to provide evidence that expectations, aspirations and plans to undertake purposive socio-technical transitions are emerging in different urban contexts. This collection adds to existing literature on cities and energy transitions and introduces critical questions about power and social interests, lock-in and development trajectories, social equity and economic development, and socio-technical change in cities. The book addresses academics, policy makers, practitioners and researchers interested in the development of systemic responses in cities to curb climate change. Harriet Bulkeley is a Reader at the Department of Geography, Durham University, UK. Vanesa Castán Broto is a Research Associate at the Department of Geography, Durham University, UK. Mike Hodson is a Research Fellow at the SURF Centre, University of Salford, UK. Simon Marvin is Professor and Co-Director of the SURF Centre, University of Salford, UK. Routledge studies in human geography This series provides a forum for innovative, vibrant and critical debate within human geography. Titles reflect the wealth of research that is taking place in this diverse and ever-expanding field. Contributions are drawn from the main sub-disciplines and from innovative areas of work that have no particular sub-disciplinary allegiances. Published: 1. A Geography of Islands 6. Mapping Modernities Small island insularity Geographies of Central and Stephen A. Royle Eastern Europe 1920–2000 Alan Dingsdale 2. Citizenships, Contingency and the Countryside 7. Rural Poverty Rights, culture, land and the Marginalisation and exclusion in environment Britain and the United States Gavin Parker Paul Milbourne 3. The Differentiated Countryside 8. Poverty and the Third Way Jonathan Murdoch, Philip Lowe, Colin C. Williams and Neil Ward and Terry Marsden Jan Windebank 4. The Human Geography of East 9. Ageing and Place Central Europe Edited by Gavin J. Andrews and David Turnock David R. Phillips 5. Imagined Regional 10. Geographies of Commodity Communities Chains Integration and sovereignty in the Edited by Alex Hughes and global South Suzanne Reimer James D. Sidaway 11. Queering Tourism 21. China on the Move Paradoxical performances at Gay Migration, the state, and the Pride parades household Lynda T. Johnston C. Cindy Fan 12. Cross-Continental Food Chains 22. Participatory Action Edited by Niels Fold and Research Approaches and Bill Pritchard Methods Connecting people, participation 13. Private Cities and place Edited by Georg Glasze, Sara Kindon, Rachel Pain and Chris Webster and Klaus Frantz Mike Kesby 14. Global Geographies of Post 23. Time–Space Compression Socialist Transition Historical geographies Tassilo Herrschel Barney Warf 15. Urban Development in 24. Sensing Cities Post-Reform China Monica Degen Fulong Wu, Jiang Xu and Anthony Gar-On Yeh 25. International Migration and Knowledge 16. Rural Governance Allan Williams and Vladimir International perspectives Baláˇz Edited by Lynda Cheshire, Vaughan Higgins and 26. The Spatial Turn Geoffrey Lawrence Interdisciplinary perspectives Barney Warf and Santa Arias 17. Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth 27. Whose Urban Renaissance? Young rural lives An international comparison Edited by Ruth Panelli, Samantha of urban regeneration Punch and Elsbeth Robson policies Libby Porter and Katie Shaw 18. World City Syndrome Neoliberalism and inequality in 28. Rethinking Maps Cape Town Martin Dodge, Rob Kitchin and David A. McDonald Chris Perkins 19. Exploring Post-Development 29. Rural–Urban Dynamics Aram Ziai Livelihoods, mobility and markets in African and Asian 20. Family Farms frontiers Harold Brookfield and Jytte Agergaard, Niels Fold and Helen Parsons Katherine V. Gough 30. Spaces of Vernacular Creativity 34. Globalization of Advertising Rethinking the cultural economy Agencies, cities and spaces of Tim Edensor, Deborah Leslie, creativity Steve Millington and Norma James Faulconbridge, Peter J. Rantisi Taylor, J.V. Beaverstock and C. Nativel 31. Critical Reflections on Regional Competitiveness 35. Cities and Low Carbon Gillian Bristow Transitions Harriet Bulkeley, Vanesa Castán 32. Governance and Planning of Broto, Mike Hodson and Simon Mega-City Regions Marvin An international comparative perspective 36. New Economic Spaces in Asian Jiang Xu and Anthony G. O. Yeh Cities From industrial restructuring to 33. Design Economies and the the cultural turn Changing World Economy Peter W. Daniels, Kong Chong Innovation, production and Ho and Thomas A. Hutton competitiveness John Bryson and Grete Rustin Cities and Low Carbon Transitions Edited by Harriet Bulkeley, Vanesa Castán Broto, Mike Hodson and Simon Marvin First published 2011 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. © 2011 Harriet Bulkeley, Vanesa Castán Broto, Mike Hodson and Simon Marvin The right of Harriet Bulkeley, Vanesa Castán Broto, Mike Hodson and Simon Marvin to be identified as editors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Cities and low carbon transitions / edited by Harriet Bulkeley ... [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. City planning–Environmental aspects. 2. Urban ecology (Biology) 3. Climatic changes. 4. Carbon dioxide–Environmental aspects. I. Bulkeley, Harriet, 1972– HT166.C466 2011 307.1'216—dc22 2010023424 ISBN 0-203-83924-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN: 978–0–415–58697–9 (hbk) ISBN: 978–0–203–83924–9 (ebk) Contents List of illustrations ix Notes on contributors xi Acknowledgements xvi 1 Introduction 1 HARRIET BULKELEY, VANESA CASTÁN BROTO, MIKE HODSON AND SIMON MARVIN PART I Conceptual frameworks for understanding urban transitions 11 2 The role of cities in technological transitions: analytical clarifications and historical examples 13 FRANK GEELS 3 Governing urban low carbon transitions 29 HARRIET BULKELEY, VANESA CASTÁN BROTO AND ANNE MAASSEN 4 The carbon calculus and transitions in urban politics and political theory 42 AIDAN WHILE 5 Can cities shape socio-technical transitions and how would we know if they were? 54 MIKE HODSON AND SIMON MARVIN PART II Urban transitions in practice 71 6 Urban energy transitions in Chinese cities 73 SHOBHAKAR DHAKAL viii Contents 7 The ‘eco-cities’ Freiburg and Graz: the social dynamics of pioneering urban energy and climate governance 88 PHILIPP SPÄTH AND HARALD ROHRACHER 8 The rise of post-networked cities in Europe? Recombining infrastructural, ecological and urban transformations in low carbon transitions 107 OLIVIER COUTARD AND JONATHAN RUTHERFORD 9 Living laboratories for sustainability: exploring the politics and epistemology of urban transition 126 JAMES EVANS AND ANDREW KARVONEN 10 Municipal bureaucracies and integrated urban transitions to a low carbon future 142 ALEX AYLETT 11 Community-led urban transitions and resilience: performing Transition Towns in a city 159 AMANDA SMITH 12 Building liveable cities: urban Low Impact Developments as low carbon solutions? 178 JENNY PICKERILL 13 Conclusion