THE URBAN GOVERNANCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE: A COMPARATIVE SOCIO-INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF TRANSFORMATIVE URBAN RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN DURBAN (SOUTH AFRICA) AND PORTLAND (OR, USA) by Alexander C.E. Aylett A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Geography) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2011 © Alexander C.E. Aylett, 2011 ii Abstract This dissertation investigates the socio-political dynamics of urban attempts to address climate change in a systemic, rather than project-based or piecemeal, fashion. It focuses on the actions of both municipal and civil-society actors, as well as their interactions through formal and informal processes of participation and collaboration. It contributes to the larger re-theorization of the urban scale as a potentially powerful locus for action on climate change that has arisen as international climate negotiations have faltered (Betsill 2001, Bulkeley Betsill 2003, 2005, Burch 2009, Bulkeley et al. 2003, Kousky & Schneider 2003). Focusing on two exceptional cities at the forefront of urban climate policy, this dissertation looks more closely at the difficult work involved in relocalizing meaningful climate action to the urban scale. Based on comparative qualitative research conducted in Durban (KZN, South Africa) and Portland (OR, USA) this dissertation investigates how cities can make a transition from a limited project-based approach to more integrated and transformative responses to climate change. As I will show, systemic responses to climate change require, above all, a transition from climate government to climate governance (Bridge & Perreault 2009, Gonzalez and Healey 2006, Hajer 2003 Brownill & Carpenter 2009; Bulkeley 2010; Bulkely et al. 2011). Far-reaching transformations of urban systems lie beyond what any one actor can impose or direct. Effective climate responses therefore depend on the diffusion of policy making, management, and implementation along networks that draw together government actors traditionally isolated by bureaucratic silos, as well as private companies, civil-society groups, and citizens. Contributing to a clearer understanding of networks of urban climate governance, this dissertation focuses on two key facets of the creation of networks of urban climate governance. First it examines the institutional dynamics that take place within municipal bureaucracies, as policy leaders build support for integrated and ambitious climate policies. This contributes to the broad literature on organizational behaviour and change (Weber 1922, Veblen 1914, Merton 1940, March and Olsen 1989, Schoenberger 1997, Latour 1987, Haraway 1991). Second, contributing to the literature on public participation and governance (Arnstein 1969, Taylor & Fransman 2004, Holmes & Scoones 2000, Abrahamsen 2000, McGee et al. 2003 , Habermas 1987 , Foucault 1979, Silver et al. 2010 , de Souza 2006 ) it analyses the role of civil-society actors in shaping and even leading ambitious urban responses to climate change. iii Preface Portions of Chapter 4 have been published in: • Aylett, A. (2011) "Bureaucracies and Low Carbon Transitions." In Cities and Low Carbon Transitions eds. Harriet Bulkeley & Simon Marvin. (Routledge) Portions of Chapter 7 have been in: • Aylett, A. (2010) “Participatory Planning, Justice and Climate Change in Durban, South Africa.” Environment and Planning A. 42(1) 99 – 115 • Aylett, A. (2010) “Conflict, Collaboration, and Climate Change: Participatory Democracy and Urban Environmental Struggles in Durban, South Africa.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 34(3) 478–9 Research for this dissertation was conducted with ethics approuval from the UBC Research Human Ethics Board, Certificate Number H07-03185. iv Table of Contents Abstract...................................................................................................................................ii Preface....................................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents...................................................................................................................iv List of Tables...........................................................................................................................x List of Figures........................................................................................................................xi Acknowledgements...............................................................................................................xii Dedication.............................................................................................................................xiii 1. Introduction: New Perspectives on Urban Climate Change Policy......................................1 1.1 Introduction: Climate Change Today, Where We Stand....................................1 1.2 Urban Climate Change Governance: a Research Agenda..................................3 1.2.1 (Don't) Blame Us!...............................................................................9 1.3 Integrated Urban Responses to Climate Change: Governance vs. Government................................................................................................12 1.4 Global Approaches to Climate Change: the Initial Global Scientific Framing and Subsequent Integrated Approaches.......................................21 1.4.1 Global Scientific Approaches to Climate Change.............................22 1.4.2 Reframing Climate Change: Integrating the Socio-Political and Economic Dimensions of Global Climate Change..................24 1.5 Cities and Climate Change: Scientific, Integrated, and Deeply Democratic Critiques.....................................................................................................26 1.5.1 Local Scientific Approaches to Urban Climate Policy......................28 1.5.2 Local Integrated Approaches to Urban Climate Policy.....................29 1.5.3 Urban Political Ecological Approaches to Urban Climate Policy.....32 1.5.3.1 UPE Core Concepts...........................................................33 1.6 Urban Climate Change: a Typology of Theory and Practice...........................38 1.7 Dissertation Road Map....................................................................................43 2. Methodology and Study Sites.................................................................................................48 2.1 Introduction: the Case for Selecting Durban and Portland..............................48 2.2 Methodology....................................................................................................52 2.2.1 Interview Methodology: Profile of Respondents..............................54 2.2.2 Interview Methodology, Follow-up, and Triangulation...................56 v 2.3 Durban: Introduction........................................................................................57 2.3.1 Durban: Emissions Profile and Early Climate Policies and Projects..........................................................................................63 2.3.2 Key Adaptive and Mitigative Measures............................................65 2.3.3 Institutional History of Climate Change Policies and Programs in Durban............................................................................................67 2.4 Portland: Introduction......................................................................................74 2.4.1 Portland: Emissions Profile and Early Climate Policies and Projects...........................................................................................78 2.4.2 Institutional History and Context of Portland's Engagement with CC...................................................................................................83 2.5 Conclusions: Making Climate Policy Their Own............................................87 3. A Cultural Approach to Understanding Organisational Change........................................90 3.1 Introduction......................................................................................................90 3.2 Weber and the Modern Bureaucracy................................................................94 3.2.1 Weber's Nightmare: the Cultural Costs of Bureaucratization...........96 3.3 Veblen and Merton: beyond Rationality to Trained Incapacity and Organizational Culture...............................................................................98 3.3.1 Merton: Instrumentalizing Trained Incapacity and the Creation of Organizational Culture..................................................................100 3.4 Steering Change (i): the Logic of Appropriateness and Path Dependency....103 3.4.1 Path Dependency and Lock in.........................................................105 3.5 Steering Change (ii): Elite Dominance and Self-preservation vs. Innovation.................................................................................................108 3.6 Empowering Change: Strategic Interventions and Decentralizing Empowered Creativity..............................................................................111 3.6.1 Strategic Interventions (i): Bridging...............................................112 3.6.2 Strategic Interventions (ii): Translation...........................................113 3.6.3 Organizational Reform: Situated Knowledge and