An evaluation of local policies and actions that address climate change in Turkish metropolitan cities

As sites of climatic impacts, cities have become key players in climate policy-making in order to reduce GHG emissions and vulnerabilities of settlements. They started taking actions in various fields such as built environment, water and waste management, transportation and urban greenery. However, the involvement of cities in climate policy-making varies over countries and regions; the extent of involvement differentiates even among the cities of the same country. This paper focuses on the Turkish case and elaborates the current status of climate policy-making in Turkish metropolitan cities. It aims at identifying achievements at the local level and pointing to challenges for an effective local climate action, which can be helpful for other contexts, too. Having conducted both desk-based and questionnaire surveys, it examines and categorizes climate-related actions in metropolitan municipalities, and highlights varying levels of achievements in terms of sectors and innovativeness. The study concludes with analysing the motives behind varying achievements of municipalities as well as the main challenges for local action and discussing policy implications to overcome them.     

The Role of Pilot Projects in Urban Climate Change Policy Innovation

Cities are taking a leadership role in addressing global climate change and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but policy innovations are needed to help cities move from goals to outcomes. Pilot projects are one means by which cities are experimenting with new ways of governing and financing climate change mitigation. In this paper, we develop a framework for understanding the role of pilot projects in urban policy innovation: their emergence and rationale, and the means by which they ultimately scale up and out to reduce GHG emissions. We use this framework to evaluate a pilot project for retrofitting social housing buildings in Toronto. We find the initial pilot project helped address the challenges of pursuing deep retrofits of social housing. Scaling these lessons up to the city level required overcoming challenges to financing and coordinating a larger project; scaling out to the provincial level revealed institutional and political obstacles to pursuing the co-benefits of deep building retrofits in social housing. Bridging agents play an important role in both scaling processes. The analysis reveals the additive nature of urban policy innovation and the dynamic interplay of change agents and institutional and political context in innovation processes.     

The Influence of Local Contextual Characteristics on the Implementation of a Statewide Voter Initiative: The Case of California's Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (Proposition 36)

Much of the scholarship on initiatives emphasizes the link between voting behavior and initiative election outcomes or the strategies employed during the policy enactment phase. Little research has considered implementation or whether initiatives ultimately achieve their intended goals. Although the initiative process provides a direct link between the people and policy, it cannot be assumed that upon voter approval, an initiative will simply be implemented in a meaningful and uniform manner within the scope of the initiative's original intent. Using a case study of California's Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (SACPA/Proposition 36) I ask how local politics and other contextual factors influence the implementation of a statewide voter initiative. Using aggregate data drawn from each of California's 58 counties, results indicate that politics at the county-level, measured via counties' general ideological dispositions and more specific policy preferences toward drug abuse and drug offenders affect how they implement the initiative. Contrary to popular conceptions, results here confirm that initiatives are not uniformly implemented, but in fact, will be manifested in quite different ways due to local contextual differences.     

Comparing Climate Change Policy Adoption and Its Extension across Areas of City Policymaking

Public policies increasingly address complex problems such as climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation that require forging connections across existing areas of policy activity. Despite the emerging prominence of these types of policymaking challenges, more research is needed to understand policy responses to them. In this paper, I use survey responses from 287 cities and a hurdle model to comparatively examine the factors that underlie the adoption of climate change mitigation and adaptation as issues influencing city policymaking and their extension across areas of city policymaking. I find evidence that while social change, crisis, and conditions supporting nascent coalitions were associated with adoption, extension across areas of policymaking was associated with the city?s prevailing political economy as well as the resources for expanding communities of interest. In the process, I offer empirical evidence for existing similarities and differences in cities? considerations about climate change mitigation and adaptation; particularly that the number of policymaking areas influenced by mitigation was associated with financial factors while the number influenced by adaptation was associated with socioeconomic ones.     

Tourism–conservation enterprises as a land-use strategy in Kenya

Since the early 1990s, nature conservation organizations in Eastern and Southern Africa have increasingly attempted to integrate their objectives with those of international development organizations, the land-use objectives of local communities and the commercial objectives of tourism businesses, in order to find new solutions for the protection of nature and wildlife outside state-protected areas. The increased inclusion of the market in conservation initiatives has led to diverse institutional arrangements involving various societal actors, such as private game reserves, conservancies and conservation enterprises. The Koija Starbeds ecolodge in Kenya – a partnership between communities, private investors and a non-governmental organization – serves as a case study for emerging institutional arrangements aimed at enabling value creation for communities from nature conservation. Based on a content analysis of data from individual semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews, as well as a document and literature review, this article reveals a range of benefits for community livelihood and conservation. It also identifies a range of longer term governance challenges, such as the need to address local political struggles, the relations between partners and transparency and accountability in the arrangement.     

“Compassionate” Strategies of Managing Homelessness: Post‐Revanchist Geographies in San Francisco

Abstract: After almost 30 years of Federal retraction from anti‐poverty initiatives, many American cities have been left with the dual burden of intensified poverty and far fewer resources to combat the problem. At the same time, such devolution has afforded cities the authority to forge poverty policy at the local level, such that the familiar neoliberal imperatives of state retraction and the mobilization of territory for capitalist expansion are frequently tempered by more progressive political imperatives at the local scale. What has thus emerged is a deeply ambivalent policy landscape, of which “kinder and gentler” poverty management strategies are a central feature. Using the example of a recent homeless program in San Francisco, “Care Not Cash”, this paper argues that such poverty management strategies, while less punitive than their revanchist predecessors, nonetheless introduce a new set of exclusions to the service delivery system, many of which are obscured by the language of compassion. In order to illustrate those new exclusions, I describe the city's homeless geographies—the public spaces, shelters, service sites, and housing models—that have been produced and reconfigured according to a logic of managing homelessness through the provision of care.     

Cooperation and Forming Networks of Creative Cities: Polish Experiences

The goal of this article is to draw attention to one of the currently observed trends in the geography of cities in the context of the networking of cities of similar development profiles. In that context, the most important examples of the urban networks were analysed, including the following networks: the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and Eurocities as well known side-network initiatives of the European Capital of Culture. Each network was analysed in the context of business objectives and the conditions for participation. In addition to that, the article describes the idea of cluster forming with particular emphasis on creative industries clusters. Moreover, this article is devoted to Polish experiences connected with the participation of the Polish cities in international networks of creative cities, establishing creative clusters in Poland and with cluster initiatives.     

European Capital of Culture Designation as an Initiator of Urban Transformation in the Post-socialist Countries

Since 1985, the EU has designated cities as European Capital of Culture (ECOC) for 1 year at a time. Various ECOCs have used the designation as a tool to revive the city space. The cultural initiatives, such as the ECOC designation, are the EU's political instruments, whose significance has increased during the recent decades, and through which the EU aims to influence various political objectives, such as the unity of the Union and economic growth. These particular objectives were brought into the focus of the ECOC initiative during the Eastern enlargement of the Union. Since 2007, various Central and Eastern European cities have aimed to regenerate their economy through large construction projects, developing and repairing public spaces, investing in creative industries and transforming the image of the city, with the help of the ECOC brand. On one hand, the investments have recreated the cities with a unified modern look and an up-to-date atmosphere. On the other hand, the ECOC designation can be criticized for homogenizing the urban spaces in European cities by forcing the cities to follow certain criteria and expecting them to obey certain cultural values and trends in the urban development.     

From the ‘new localism’ to the ‘new regionalism’? The implications of regional development agencies for city–regional relations

Throughout the last three decades efforts to regenerate British cities have been based around the construction of new institutional alliances and policy networks supported by a series of urban-based initiatives. Successive Conservative governments premised their intervention on the assumption that cities (and particular parts therein) were the most appropriate geographical level around which to organise policy intervention. In pursuing this city-based agenda, the policies were themselves instrumental in constituting the city as an object of policy: a problem in need of a solution. The aim of this paper, however, is not to explore how certain spaces or scales become constructed through, for example, government policy, political practices or state restructuring. Rather the paper augments work conducted on the socially constructed nature of ‘cities’ and ‘regions’. It explores for regeneration policy and politics the implications of the tendential shift away from a model of ‘new localism’ towards an alternative model of ‘new regionalism’. The origins of the central element of New Labour's emergent regional project — the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) — are established before the paper moves on to examine the likely political relationships between the local state, drawing upon the example of Manchester, and the regional state, drawing upon North West England, under the new institutional arrangements.     

Industry Influence in Stakeholder‐Driven State Climate Change Planning Efforts

Drawing from the literature on public participation and stakeholder collaboratives, this article investigates the influence of power and wealth, as well as political and economic context on the output of stakeholders advisory committees convened to formulate state greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policies. Using small sample regression techniques, we analyze the outputs of stakeholder groups in 18 states that have completed Climate Action Plans to reduce GHGs. We find that an increase of 1 percent in the number of energy industry representatives that participate in Climate Action Councils significantly predicts a 4 percent reduction of GHG mitigation targets for the energy sector. More surprisingly, the results also show that where the utilities represent a larger share of the state economy, the Climate Action Plans identify more aggressive GHG reduction goals for the energy sector. We also find that the political orientation of the executive of the state is not correlated with GHG mitigation requirements for the energy sector, suggesting that GHG mitigation is less partisan at the state level than in Washington, DC. We find no evidence that state wealth is associated with GHG mitigation requirements. Finally, we suggest additional research needed to clarify the role of stakeholder participation processes in the evolving arena of climate change policy.     

Bush,Obama and a faith‐based US foreign policy

In a calculated move to appeal to his core constituency during his first term, President George W. Bush launched domestic and international faith‐based initiatives designed to leverage public finance for religious groupings to carry out social and welfare functions formerly performed by government or secular organizations. In December 2002 the Center for Faith‐Based and Community Initiatives (CFBCI) was extended to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Center's intention was to ‘create a level playing field’ for faith‐based and community groups to compete for foreign assistance funding. These presidential initiatives are problematic, however, calling into question the first amendment—the separation of church and state. Upon taking office Barack Obama set up the Office of Faith‐based and Neighborhood Partnerships, promising a greater emphasis on community/neighbourhood programs. The CFBCI remains a fixture in USAID and Obama shows as much enthusiasm for the initiative as his predecessor. Faith‐based international relations and political science scholars have sought to build on these initiatives and call for a greater role for faith in US foreign policy. On the eve of the 2012 presidential election, this article considers the claims for a faith‐based foreign policy by examining the construction of a faith‐based discourse by academics and successive presidents. Using faith‐based initiatives and USAID as a case–study, the article discusses criticisms of the policy and focuses on the role of a conservative evangelical organization, Samaritan's Purse, to illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of faith‐based approaches. The article argues that advocates of faith‐based foreign policy, in seeking special privileges for ecumenical religious actors, overlook their declining international significance and the opportunities afforded to less tolerant but more populist religious actors which have the potential seriously to harm US foreign policy objectives.     

Innovation policy at the local and national levels: The case of Emilia‐Romagna

The article describes the main Italian policy instruments for innovation and how these have been used by companies located in the Region of Emilia‐Romagna. It also describes the role played by structures set up at the local level in the enactment of innovation policies in Emilia‐Romagna. In the first part, the article analyzes the current organization and legislation of Italian innovation policy; and in the second part, it examines the reasons which have led to the recognition of the importance of the local level of innovation policy, looking more closely at innovation initiatives in the Region of Emilia‐Romagna. In the third part, it draws the conclusions. In particular the article underlines that Italian local governments, even without legislative and financial autonomy, can play an important role in modernizing the industrial system through initiatives which do not require vast sums of money but which identify and meet specific local needs.     

How New is the New Local Governance? Lessons from the United Kingdom

In recent times, a conventional wisdom concerning the governance of cities has emerged. It revolves around the contention that policy and planning frameworks are increasingly closed off from public and democratic accountability, in order to facilitate the pursuit of efficiency over equity objectives. The implication is that 'old' styles of governance were more open and accountable, while the 'new' seek to close off debate and streamline procedures. Yet the evidence to sustain such claims seems limited; this paper situates the policies and practices of local government in the UK within a historical perspective, and develops the contention that the claimed differences between old and new styles of governance are overdrawn. Using empirical material from two UK cities, we demonstrate that there are significant continuities in the procedures and practices of policy-makers, in terms of policy objectives, styles and modes of accountability. In this sense, greater clarity is required in terms of what constitutes both the old and new modes of local governance in the British cities.     

Security implications of climate development in conflict-affected states: Implications of local-level effects of rural hydropower development on farmers in Herat

Development initiatives aimed at mitigating or adapting to climate change impacts may result in unanticipated effects especially in conflict-affected contexts. To improved understanding of the implications of future climate development projects in conflict-affected states, this article qualitatively examines the experiences of local communities in the Zinda Jan district, located downstream from the Salma Dam in Herat Province, Afghanistan. Conducted in 2018, the research questions what local-level side effects (LLSEs) were experienced by communities downstream of the Salma Dam after its 2016 inauguration, and how these LLSEs might affect the potential for sustainable peace. The article builds from 25 in-depth interviews with local stakeholders in the Zinda Jan district, and highlights how communities generally experienced increased water scarcity after the completion of the dam in 2016, due to poor water management and lack of necessary infrastructure related to the dam. This water scarcity was a factor in grievances related to water access among local communities, and increased the likelihood of related communal violence. However, local perspectives also indicate desire for joint management of water resources between the state and civilians, from the source to their farms. The article provides important insight for research and policy actors to better understand the implications of future climate development projects in conflict-affected states, and their inherent contribution and/or risk to broader peace processes.     

Adapting (Municipal) Form to (Provincial) Function: City–County Separation and the Introduction of the Consolidated Municipal Service Manager System in Ontario,Canada

In 1998, the province of Ontario introduced the Consolidated Municipal Service Manager (CMSM) system, which effectively downloaded the responsibility for delivery and partial funding for a range of social services to municipalities. Separated cities and counties—a unique system of municipal organization in Ontario that draws a sharp institutional distinction between urban and rural areas—were given a particularly wide range of discretion over the implementation of these services. A number of these jurisdictions experienced an array of problems reaching a local solution. Some even wound up in arbitration. This article examines the implementation of the CMSM, focusing specifically on the unique institutional arrangement found in counties with separated cities, finding that the provincial government overlooked the institutional design of city–county separation, hindering the policy downloading process. Overall, it is argued that the local institutional environment is key when shifting policy responsibility from central to local actors.     

Development in Nunavik: How Regional and Local Initiatives Redefine Sustainable Development in Nunavik

ABSTRACT

For more than 50 years, the Inuit of Nunavik have been subjected to development plans devised in the south by the Government of Canada and Quebec that has a profound impact on Inuit people and their culture. The latest plan, known as Plan Nord, proposes sustainable development for the North based on the protection of 50 percent of the territory. However, the Inuit of Nunavik face many social challenges and this is reflected in the socioeconomic indicators of the region. In order to alleviate these social circumstances, numerous regional and local initiatives are attempting to establish programs better suited to the culture and needs of Nunavimmiut. Examples at the regional level include childcare and midwifery services supported by Quebec. At the local level, initiatives such as the Unaaq Men’s Association and the Innavik Project are making an effort to address local needs. In this paper, following a presentation of the Nunavik governance architecture, we will analyze how local (Unaaq, Innavik) and regional initiatives (Midwifery Program, Childcare, Preparation for Post-Secondary Education, Nunavik Parks) contribute to the sustainable development of Nunavik.     

Social and Political Dimensions of Environmental Protection in Central America

This study takes a critical look at mainstream efforts to protect and rehabilitate the environment in Central America. Despite some notable successes, many forest protection and tree planting schemes have not been effectively implemented and have even contributed to further environmental degradation, social inequality and impoverishment. It is argued that the trade-off between environmental protection and human welfare which characterizes many schemes to protect forests and promote tree planting undermines not only local livelihoods but also the possibility of achieving basic environmental objectives, given the nature of local responses and their effects on project implementation. There is a need for a more integrative and socially-aware approach to environmental planning which addresses two fundamental problems: the failure to locate environmental protection initiatives within a broader development framework and the failure to integrate concerns for environmental protection with the needs and rights of local people. Addressing these two problems of ‘macro-’ and ‘micro-coherency’ in environmental planning requires not only dealing with the many technical, administrative and financial constraints which typically characterize environmental programmes and projects, but also changes in the balance of social forces.